Sweet, Sour and Spicy Addiction
by becky157689
Summary: Modern Day Naruto Fanfiction. Sakura Haruno arrives in the city of Konoha, ready to attend high school and find her childhood friend - Naruto. What she doesn't know, is that while going through her daily life, she catches a certain group of peoples attention... SakuraCentric (Might change the rating later on)
1. Prologue

Third person POV

It was a usual day at the Konoha spring orphanage - well, as usual as it would normally get. The sun was high in the sky, as it barely rained in the city of Konoha, and there was a small amount of fluffy cumulus clouds that flitted about in the short spells of wind.

A small boy made his way through a large clearing filled with tall grass and all kinds of flowers; his spiky blond hair rustling in every one of his bouncy steps and his cerulean eyes gleaming along with his wide grin.

Why was this boy so happy? Well, today was the day! He was finally going to get adopted!  
Naruto Uzumaki (the boy's name) was finally going to have a home; he was sure he'd go to a place where the was a happy family, with a child of their own that could be his new brother/sister. Of course, this was what all the children would think every time a foster family came for them. He was of only the age of 8. The only problem? He would have to leave his best friend and childhood crush behind.

Stopping at the middle of the clearing just opposite a running river that was crowded with fish and other living creatures, Naruto looked at the girl who was sitting atop a medium-sized rock. Her long pink hair flowed behind her in silky waves as her eyes, an unusually rare shade of green, stared down at her reflection with sadness. Now, what had made the girl so sad? She didn't know... There was just a weird feeling in her stomach that kept on telling her that something bad was going to happen today. Oh how right she was, yet she had no idea of this.

"S-Sakura-chan" A squeak of surprise left the young girls lips as she scrambled of her current uncomfortable seat and turned around to face her, also, childhood best friend. With a smile gracing her adorable features, Sakura threw her arms around the boys neck and hugged him tightly, as if her life had depended on it.

Naruto, shocked yet happy by the sudden contact, placed his arms around her waist and hugged her back just as tight. "Ne, Sakura-chan... I'm gonna be adopted" With that single sentence, Sakura's heart stopped... well, not literally. Tugging her arms away, Sakura stepped backwards to see the happy look on her best friends face, even more so than he usual has. She didn't want him to leave her, but this was his, possibly only, chance. Both Sakura and Naruto were children who anyone would rarely come and see for adopting...

Naruto, who had stood there with a concerned look plastered over his face, stuttered her name out through the uncomfortable silence, but got no reply. He was worried that she was angry at him for getting a foster family before her, If so... then maybe he should decline... "Oh, Naruto..." He awaited the answer he would finally receive, believing that it would be a bad one "I'm so happy for you" ... "Hahh!?" Sakura gave him a weird look before repeated her thoughts "I said "I'm happy for you" You finally get a family. I'll be fine here, but at least remember me ok?"

Naruto could have cried at that moment, but he knew Sakura was staying strong so he would do the same. "When are you leaving?" "...this evening. Baa-chan told me to pack my things and to get ready but I had to come tell you first. There's no way I'm leaving without saying goodbye to my best friend!" Now, Sakura could have started crying, but held herself back by digging her nails into the palms of her hands. If she ended up crying, then Naruto would know she was actually really upset about her leaving and then he'd decided to stay... for her.

She was happy for him, truly. But that didn't count up to how sad she was. She would now be all alone, the other kids bullying her for her weird hair colour, the teachers annoyed with her due to how abnormally smart she was for her age. Naruto was always the one to always look past that and became friends with her because he wanted to, because he needed to. She was happy here because they were together... and now they would probably never see each other again.

It seems that Naruto noticed this because he brought her in to another hug, even tighter than the last, and whispered into her ear "I have to go now Sakura-chan, but please come see me off ok" The pink haired girl nodded into the crook of his neck and whispered back, almost inaudible "Maybe Naruto, Maybe"

Coming out from the hug, Sakura tiptoed and gave her blond-haired best friend a light kiss on the cheek before turning around and walking away, the words that came out of her mouth now gone with the wind "Goodbye, Naruto Uzumaki"

That was the last thing Naruto, or anyone for that matter, saw Haruno Sakura for a very long time...

* * *

Naruto's guardian had come, as expected, that evening. He had long white spiky hair and was a huge pervert, his name... Jiraiya. As soon as he stepped foot in the building, he had started to flirt with the children's assistant caretaker: a young woman who helped along with an older woman, the owner of the orphanage. He had told Naruto that he knew the boy's father and mother years back before their deaths' and had been asked to take care of Naruto if anything were to happen. Naruto, hearing this, wad exhilarated. He had a godfather. A real family member. '_I have to tell Sakura-chan. Speaking of..._' Naruto looked around the room and searched everywhere, but he didn't see Sakura anywhere in sight.

"Come on Naruto! We're leaving!" Jiraiya hollered from the front door as he gave the kid a questioning glance - Naruto had a sad look plastered all over his face as he approached his godfather, bags and all in hand. "Ara? Why the sad look?" "... Sakura-chan didn't come to see me off" 'Sakura-chan?' Jiraiya turned to the owner of the building and rose a fine white eyebrow. Said woman stumbled for words as a worried look passed through her eyes. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen little Sakura since she went out this morning. Although she's stayed out before, it's never been this late..."

Sakura was the kind of child who loved to go outdoors to stay with the nature. She would always go out from as soon as she woke up until around 5 in the afternoon. No one knew what she would do, however... not even Naruto. The caretakers as well as the other children thought of her as a weird child, her hair colour for one said it all. But, at that moment it was already passed 7pm and now they had a reason to be worried. Naruto, turning his sad gaze towards his godfather, gave a dejected look as said man sighed deeply in return.

"Listen Naruto. I'm sure she'll turn up soon, but we have to go. We can always come and visit her from time to time" The perverted man looked at the old woman "if that's alright with you" She nodded hastily, glad that she would get the chance to see Naruto again. Although said boy was also a weird one with his unusual six whisker scars on both cheeks, he was easy to get along with and would always lighten the mood. The blond boy huffed and crossed his arms over his chest to make himself look more manly "Of course! Sakura-chan would hate it of I never came back to see her. Believe it! Let's move out!" With a roll of his eyes, Jiraiya pushed the enthusiastic boy forward towards his car, said his goodbyes to the old woman (and a farewell kiss to the younger caretaker, who had cringed in response) before driving off.

While sitting in the car, Naruto could barely hide the excitement for seeing his young childhood friend next time. _'Don't worry Sakura-chan. I'll come back soon!'_ What he didn't know, however, that said next time would be over 8 years later.


	2. Chapter 1 - Home Again

It was a usual sunny day in the city of Konoha. There were hardly any clouds and a bare minimum of wind that hardly did any harm to a certain pink haired girls hair.

Her hair, just as said, was a silvery pink and styled so that it was cut just above her shoulders; her bangs covering her forehead with a single long part coming down from behind her left ear which had been dyed a crimson red. The girl had multiple piercings: 5 in each ear - 3 at the bottom and 2 at the top, with a hidden belly button piercing.

Between her shoulder blades, on her back, was a hidden tattoo of a pink cherry blossom, the words 'We shall heal our wounds and continue living' inscribed underneath in black. The girl wore a light gray tank top underneath a cream cardigan, mid-thigh light denim shorts which showed off her long, defined and slender legs and brown leather sandals that matched her pale skin.

Said girl had just stepped out of a bright yellow taxi and stood before a large building-which was in fact a school-her large rare shade emerald eyes scanning over it to decide whether she deemed it worthy or not. The taxi driver came around with her suitcase (A large black case with her initials inscribed at the bottom in red, surrounded by pink cherry blossoms) and gave a tip of his strange hat before leaving the girl as she shouted back a "Thank you!" for driving her such a far way from the airport.

The ride from said airport had been a long one; it was situated all the way on the other side of the city. It was surely a pain to her wallet, as well as her backside as she had already sat through a 12 hour flight-plus an extra 20 minutes in the cab. All she wanted to do now was stretch and find her room so she could sleep. '_Yes... sleep. Sleep sounds great_' The only problem was that she heard she would be having a roommate. '_hopefully, she isn't the type who brings 'round guys every night_' The pink haired girl pleaded in her mind. She had one of those as her roommate before and after a mere 3 day... well, let's just say that the girl had trouble writing for the next six weeks.

With a sigh, she took a hold of the handle of her suitcase and began rolling it up to the large metal gates that kept anyone from entering the school without permission. As she did so, a man dressed in guard uniform came out from a small box-like structure.

The pink haired girl smiled sweetly at him and bowed her head. "Hi, I'm a new student here" "I see, your name and registration letter please" The guard placed his hand out palm up and looked at the girl before him expectantly. He had to admit, to himself at least, that she was a real beauty. Her figure was to die for as well as her features. Although her hair was a rather extravagant colour, he wondered if it was dyed or natural; it didn't look like it had been coloured, however, as it was a silvery pink all the way down to the roots.

"Ah, gomen. My name is Haruno Sakura. Yoroshiku" The guard nodded his head once and took the papers from Sakura with care not to rip/crumple them. with a single glance over the papers, making sure the girl was who she says she was (though he doubted she wasn't), the guard handed them back to Sakura who immediately placed them back inside her handbag. It was essential to Sakura that she had a bag at her side which could hold her important on hand things: such as her phone, wallet, ID etc...

With a click on the right button, the guard stepped back and awaited as the gate began sliding open to the right. Sakura stood by his side and smiled as she realised she would finally be able to see her old childhood friend once again. She knew, however, that said boy would most probably be angry, if not furious, with her. She did, after all, leave the orphanage without even telling him and not saying goodbye when he left with his guardian. A sigh passed her lips as she pushed the thoughts out of her mind, it wasn't the right time to think about it. First things first, she had to get inside and get settled in.

With a wave goodbye and a silent thank you to the guard, Sakura took a hold once again of her suitcase and began rolling it towards the main entrance of the school. While doing so, the pinkette decided to look over the building's structure.

It was made up of old stone with vines wrapped around and well as cracks forming here and there '_It must be old..._' She mused with a raised eyebrow at an unvoiced question she was sure to ask the principle later on. There was a large fountain in front of the building surrounded by a wide path where cars could pick up and drop off as well as a car park off to the far right. The pink haired girl squealed inwardly in delight as she realised she could place her baby motorcycle there without any complaints from anyone else as soon as it was shipped over.

The steps leading up to the building was a bit of trouble with Sakura's large suitcase, but with her strength it was a capable task, nevertheless annoying.

Pulling the door open, Sakura made her way down the hallway leading to the front office where she would collect her things: Lesson timetable, dorm key etc... As she walked, she glanced over the walls, sometimes stopping to look at the many medals and pictures inside glass windowed trophy cabinets. It seemed that not only was the school famous for their academic scholars, but also for their music and sport scholarship students. Sakura was one of the many students that came on an academic scholarship. She was very smart and had an eidetic memory, making it much more easy to remember things; She was happy for this ability as it would aid her in her dream to become a doctor. It had always been Sakura's dream to help people, just as it was her parents.

Stepping out of her thoughts, Sakura noticed she was already standing before a desk which a woman with short dark hair sat behind, a rather unusual animal in her arms: a teacup pig. Sakura raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't bother to question nor judge as she had seen even more unusual things in her life. Take such as, in one of her past villages, a guy walked around with a python wrapped around his neck, everywhere he went. The pink haired girl chuckled absent-mindedly, not seeing the quizzical look the secretary was giving her.

The brown haired woman cleared her throat, bringing Sakura back from her memories looking startled. "Oh, gomenasai. My names Haruno Sakura and I'm the new transfer student" "Ah, I remember reading your file. Right then, here's you timetable, dorm key, locker number, map of the area and student ID for entering and leaving the gate" Sakura received a large envelope containing everything the secretary and listed before.

With a nod, Sakura was about to continue but was stopped once again by the dark-haired woman talking. "Oh! and the girls dorms are to the right when you come up to the end of the hall. Good luck and hope you don't get lost" And with that said, Sakura was gone down the hall, information in hand, ready for a new school and new people.

As the silvery pink haired girl strolled down the corridors, she pulled out the map from the large brown envelope and began memorizing everything she thought she had to... which was practically every single detail on the very detailed piece of paper.

At the bottom of the map was the gate, leading to the building which Sakura was just inside. Behind said building (which was actually where teachers went to hang about and the secretary and headmaster office lay) Stood two more building's: one to the far right and one to the far left. Sakura noted that they were the girls and boys dorms; In between the two dorm buildings was another fountain surrounded by a large area where students could sit down and relax.

The last building was the largest and was cut into different sections, as well as three levels. This was where the lessons would take place; there was a gym, swimming pool and nurses office. Behind this was a huge field where the outdoor sports would take place.

Sakura whistled to herself as she stopped outside the first building. There, right in front of her, was a gorgeous fountain sprouting water out of dolphin snouts while surrounding it were pretty flower patches and bushes in between brown wooden benches. Walking alone the path, she made sure she was going right and began her way towards the girls dorms.

As she did so, Sakura noticed someone standing, or more like leaning against a nearby tree. It was as if time slowed down as Sakura and the person caught each others eyes; time stopped around them. The pink haired girls steps seemed to be in slow-motion as she bowed her head at the young man, seemingly in his late teens (perhaps a year or two older than herself), with spiky orange hair and many piercings. Said man didn't bow back, but his eyes did follow after Sakura as she continued her way on. His gaze lingered as she did so; she could feel his stare and although she didn't mind that he was looking, she had to say it was slightly unnerving. Nevertheless, Sakura ignored him and left, never once glancing back at the now smirking man.

Stepping into the girls dorm, which like the front building, was very old-looking, Sakura walked up untill the lift and awaited the moment the doors opened. As she did so, she could hear footsteps, meaning that someone was approaching. She took note that the way the person stepped was soft and almost inaudible; _'Possibly a martial artist or someone who has taken some sort of stealth classes... interesting'_

Sakura listened in silence as the footsteps stopped right beside her at the same moment as the lift 'dinged' and the door slid open to the left.

When both of the girls were inside the small confined area, the mysterious girl pressed the button to the top floor - 3rd, which was also Sakura's floor, luckily for her. "You the new transfer student?" The question that broke the awkward silence startled the pink haired girl as she was thinking in a kind of dazed stare.

Sakura craned her neck to the left and came almost face to face with a brown-haired girl. Said brown hair was tied up into two buns on the top of her head and she had large chocolate-brown eyes. She wore China styled clothing: a pink top, brown pants and dolly like shoes which seemed to be made up of silk fabric. A wide grin was plastered all over the girls boyishly pretty face as she continued to stare shamelessly at Sakura.

"Hai, Haruno Sakura. Yoroshiku...""Ah, I'm Tenten. It's nice to meet you to Sakura-san" _'Already with formalities?'_ Sakura's eye twitched almost invisibly as she nodded at the strange girl before her.

Just as Tenten was bout to ask what room she was in, the door to the lift slid open and let view a red tinted wooded hallway, the floor having dark red carpets. Sakura nodded to herself, deeming it nice to look at (she would be able to stand seeing it every day for the rest of her high school years) and began making her way towards the left side of the corridor. "Well, I'm down this side. See you tomorrow Sakura-san!" The weird China haired girl called back with a wave as she ran off, leaving behind imaginary dust in her wake as well as a rather large sweat drop atop Sakura's pink head of hair.

With a roll of her eyes and a cheap sarcastic comment to herself mentally, Sakura pulled out her dorm key and number and began her way towards the opposite side of which Tenten had just before left in.

_'130...131...132...Aha! 133_' She stood before a black door with the number 133 on it and took a steady breath before opening it up. She had to admit to herself that she was both excited and worried about her roommate. Excited that she might be awesome like herself and worried for obvious reasons which had been stated earlier.

With a swing, the door flew open and Sakura took her first step inside her new, temporary, home.

"..." Well, it definitely wasn't what Sakura had expected it to be, not in the least. The walls were a very dark blue, almost black colour, the carpeted floor being a navy blue to match said walls. The curtains right across from the door, behind the flat screen television were also a navy blue, which actually pleased Sakura as the light wouldn't necessarily get through in the morning. In front of the flat screen tv was a 3 seater sofa with a small table in between and a black leather recliner chair to its right.

As you turn right from coming into the room, you come up to a small kitchen, which is connected to the small living room with just a high black marvel counter in between. There was anything you would need to cook: a fridge, washing machine, sink, many cupboards and a cooker. The small things such as a microwave, kettle etc... on top of the counters.

To the left when you come into the room is three doors, the middle one the bathroom with a large tub, shower, sink, toilet, a mirror and 2 cabinets above the sink - Each one for the roommates.

The two doors to the sides of the bathroom were the bedrooms.

It was rather easy to tell which room would be hers as the room on the far side said 'Temari' on it. "So, my roommate's name is 'Temari huh? ... Doesn't sound like a name belonging to 'those' types of girls" With a shrug of her shoulders, Sakura opened the door closest to her and instantly smiled. Just like the living room etc... the walls were dark, as well as the carpet and curtains. The bed, which was situated on the right hand far side of the room had black covers with white intricate designs on them, the same for the many fluffy pillows and the desk beside it held a laptop, which was actually Sakura's as shed got it delivered early along with some other things. A large cupboard on the left hand side of the room held all of Sakura's clothes and shoes while beside it was a shelf half way up the wall which held the pink haired girls many, many books of all kinds; Sakura is on an academic scholarship, she's gotta read.

Right opposite the bed was tv hanging off the wall, games and all situated below it on a small desk.

Dumping her suitcase on the floor, Sakura closed her door, locking it in the process, messily kicked off her shoes and flopped down on her new and extra comfortable bed. She sighed in delight as she thought about how this school would definitely be different than the last one in her old city.

What she didn't know, however, was how wrong she was about that. Too bad she wouldn't find out until much later on...


	3. Chapter 2 - Unexpected Reunion

Rustling noises coming from the front room awoke Sakura from her comfortable nap, surrounded by many fluffy blue pillows and a messy blanket.

She shot up, quickly becoming confused and looked around to see where she was, but soon remembered the events from earlier that day and sighed, a hand to the side of her head. Just as she was about to get out of her bed, a shout came from the front room again stopping her mid-lift, although Sakura was not able to understand because of the building material between her bedroom and everywhere else. It was as thought they sound proofed everything... now why would they need to do that? Said question was left hanging in the depth of her mind as she could hear another round of noises.

Standing up with more than a little trouble to get her limbs untangled from her sheets, Sakura tumbled face first into the rather comfy carpet and let out a quiet groan of frustration. With a huff, she lifted herself up and rubbed her forehead to ease the small pinch of pain. Looking in the body length mirror on the inside of her cupboard door, Sakura decided she looked fine as ever and went to see what the commotion was. If it was her roommate, then fine, the pink haired girl would just ask her to calm down. If not and it was someone breaking into their dorm room, a guy at that, then that person would have hell to pay from a certain pink haired devil.

Swinging her bedroom door open, Sakura peeked around the halfway first, and when seeing nothing abnormal, fully walked out into the next room. There wasn't anything out of place except for a bag with all of its contents spilling out on the floor. Our pink haired friend casually tiptoed her way over to it and was about to pick everything up when a voice stopped her.

"Who're you?"

Sakura craned her neck to the right, slightly startled to see a girl leaning against the opened bathroom door frame, a smirk plastered over her boyishly pretty face. The girl had blonde tied up into 4 ponytails: two on the top of her head and another two down the back. Her eyes were a very dark green, almost black looking as she scanned over Sakura, just as Sakura was doing to her.

She wore dark blue skinny jeans which seemed to be like second skin and a navy blue blouse, a few of the top buttons left undone to show a bit of cleavage. From first looks, Sakura could tell that the girl before her wasn't 'that' type of girl and was more of a 'punk' type of girl, like herself.

Bowing her head and giving a smile in greeting, Sakura introduced herself to her new roommate. "Haruno Sakura, Yoroshiku. I'm your new roommate from now on" The blond-haired girl gave Sakura a once over as she stepped closer to her. Lifting her hand, Sakura watched as Temari nodded back in greeting.

As the two shook hands, tight grips as if in a battle of strengths, Temari introduced herself in return "Sabaku no Temari, it's a pleasure..." She paused for a moment, giving Sakura a scrutinizing look before continuing. "You better not be one of 'those' types of girls 'cause I like having at least 8 hours of sleep without having to listen to moaning and groaning every single minute. I got enough of that with my last roommate" ... In the background you could practically see a tumbleweed roll by through a small gust of wind before the pink haired girl burst out into fits of laughter, keeping a hold of her side's as a stitch began to form.

"Hahaha..." Sakura shook her head and wiped away a stray 'tear' with the back of her thumb "Gomen. Don't worry, I'm not one of 'those' types. I was just laughing 'cause I was about to ask you that same question" The two girls chuckled together for a moment before Sakura asked the question that had been on her mind since she got up.

"Ne, what was up with that shouting I heard a minute ago?" "Ah that!" Temari continued speaking as she began to pick up the bag and its spilled contents from the floor, Sakura helping after a short moment as to be polite. She, from the moment she saw Temari, had a feeling that they could become good friends a d Sakura was determined to do so by any means necessary.

"Well, I had a small fight with my brother, Kankuro, and kinda took it out on my school book as soon as I stepped through the door. Sorry you had to hear that... Hehehe" Handing some guide-book for science to the 4 pig-tailed girl, Sakura began to wonder what this Kankuro person looked like.

It was as of Temari was reading from the pink haired girls mind as she said "Tall, Brown hair, wears purple makeup, flirts with any girl who has a heart beat and believe me when I say any. Can't miss 'em. If you ever meet him tell him I said 'go die in a hole' cause there's no way I'm talking to him after what he's done..." She shivered visibly at the mere thought, making Sakura want to know what happened. Perhaps it would give her a good laugh. On the other hand, if It's so bad that it makes Temari, the seemingly tough girl shiver and cringe, then maybe It's not worth it.

A mere 10 minutes later, the two girls were sat in the front room, cups of hot chocolate in hand, talking to each other as if they'd known each other for years. Sakura had found that within that short amount of time, she felt that she could talk to Temari and tell her every little secret she had. Temari, had the same thoughts running through her mind as the two girls laughed at a hilarious memory she'd just told.

Sakura had found out that Temari had another brother other than Kankuro the pervert (She scowled at the mere thought of him). She explained that he was the youngest of the trio, had wild red hair, sea foam green eyes and the blood lust of a crazed bear: also that she should probably try to get as far away as possible if he ever went on a rampage. However, Sakura merely tossed that piece of advice out the window and stated confidently that she could very much so handle herself.

After a while longer, the clock striked 4pm and the two set their refilled (for the third time) but now empty cup of hot chocolate down on the table in front of them and began making their way down to the relaxing area out front, however not before fetching their phones and headphones so that they could listen to their music.

As they left the elevator and approached the front lounge, Sakura wondered if Temari knew Naruto. Voicing her thoughts, she stopped mid-step and turned to the 4 pig-tailed girl with a tilt of her head. Temari couldn't help but gush inwardly (there's no way she'd ever show anyone how much she liked cute things, not even Sakura) at how cute she looked, even though she had such a punky appearance. "Ne, Temari. Do you know anyone by the name of Uzumaki Naruto?"

A short silence passed through the space between the two girls before Temari smacked a fisted hand into the open one of her other - making it look as of she'd just had an idea for a great invention. "Blond hair, bright blue eyes, whisker marks on his cheeks and has orange in almost every single outfit he wears?" receiving a nod, Temari continued "Yeh, I know 'em. Gaara and him are a friend of sorts and he's part of the popular gang-best friends to Uchiha Sasuke. Can't miss him really. Why? you know each other or something like that?" "Yeh... something like that" Temari decided that, by the sad look Sakura was giving the ground that she'd suddenly found very interesting, she should probably leave that subject for another time.

Walking outside and around the fountain, Sakura was first to take a seat beside the lovely flower patches, Temari following suit soon after.

They sat in a comfortable silence, their music quietly flowing through their headphones as they watched the water sprout from the dolphins' noses and into the remaining water before going through the same cycle over and over. The sight made Sakura let out a breath of delight and lean back to get more comfortable on the wooden bench, which wouldn't be something you'd think as comfy as it was made of wood which normally made your back sore and stiff.

* * *

Not far from the two girls, a group of five boys were making their way towards their dorms. Two of said boys were in a heated discussion about a group of girls, trying to decide who they were looking and winking at, annoying the others around them in the meantime.

One of the boys with brown hair pulled up tightly into a ponytail (making him look somewhat like a pineapple) and dark coloured eyes, sighed with one of his hands placed to his forehead "Why do you two always have to argue about everything" He put emphasis on 'everything' to make his point before muttering out his usual catchphrase of "what a drag" which was normally followed by "How troublesome" His friend, a rather big-boned teenager nodded his head in agreement as he tried to stay out of the boys lines of fire as to not get caught up, and instead settled on his usual murdering of a bag of crisps.

One of the quarreling boys with shaggy brown hair, brown eyes and red upside down triangles tattooed below his eyes turned to the lazy boy with a hardened glare. "He's the one who started it! It's so obvious the girls were winking at me but he's too much of a loser to admit it. Can't take the fact that girls like me better!" He sneered at the boy he was just before arguing with, his eyes narrowing into slits as he bared his rather long canine's.

Just as the other boy was about to comment back (rather rudely might I add) a handsome boy with blue-tinted raven hair styled like a ducks butt turned to him with an attractive smirk that could make girls of all types swoon and spoke in a deep, yet oddly cold voice "Dobe, just admit it" "Urrr! Sasuke! Why do you always take Kiba's side!?" Sasuke merely hn'd and turned away, the smirk still visible on his face as he gave a shrug of his shoulders; he did not comment any further as he had decided that he'd had his fun for the moment.

Just as the boy was about to attempt murder on his raven haired best friend since childhood, a mass of pink locks came into view.

He stopped still in his tracks and felt his hands clench tightly into fists as he stared at the two girl sitting comfortably on a bench before the fountain that was surrounded by flower patches. Although his line of sight was on both the girl, one of which he knew well from a friend of his, his main subject of staring at was oddly familiar to him. As the girl turned her head his way, although not noticing him yet, he instantly realised who she was. Her luscious pink hair, her rare shade of emerald eyes, her porcelain skin and figure that any girl would die for...

_'No way... It can't be. It's not possible_' The boys mind was going into overload as his thoughts merged together. He knew it had to be her but he didn't want to believe it.

It was so long ago now, but he never forgot her. He loved her as a child, more than simple friendship; he knew she didn't feel the same, however.

That single day changed everything though.

It was when he found out he was going to be adopted, and by a man he later found out was his godfather. But that day, as he waited for his childhood friend to come say goodbye... She never did. Every single time after that, that he'd gone to visit, she was never there. The old women who owned the orphanage never told him where she was, but as he grew up, he figured it out. She had left that day. Run away. And he was sure he'd never see her again. Oh how the heavens had blessed him with such good fortune!

His destination changed in those mere few seconds in his thoughts, although it seemed like hours of thinking to him. His determination to find out if it was her grew more and more as he moved. He ignored his friends calling and running after him as his speed increased, almost to that of running. The only thing on his mind was the girl he once loved with all his heart, perhaps still did.

"Sakura!"

* * *

Sakura was just about to turn her music louder when her head whipped to the side at her name being called with so much need, so much want. But not only that... that voice... sounded so familiar. The moment she turned her gaze upon the boy who had called her, her heart sped up at an amazing rate and she could feel the sting of tearss from the corners of her eyes.

His long blond hair which spiked up in all directions, his baby blue eyes that seemed to resemble the sky themselves, those 6 rare and unforgettable whisker marks that she knew only one person in the world had.

Sakura ripped her headphones from her ears and threw them, along with her touchscreen phone to the bench beside Temari before jumping up and sprinted forward so that the two could meet each other half way.

As soon as they did, Sakura leaped into the blond-haired boys arms, wrapping her legs around his waist tightly, hands around his neck as those of his own wrapped around her thin waist to hold her light frame up. The boy span around in a circle continuously and laughed together with the girl in his arms, taking no notice and not even caring about those that watched as their moment of reunion was much more important.

Slowly slowing to a stop, the boy set Sakura down, just noticing the small tears beginning to leak from her eyes, and began to wipe them away with the back of his thumb. "Sakura-chan..." Said girl smiled lovingly up at him, as if nothing could ruin their reunion and spoke his name dearly as she brought him back into a breathtaking hug.

"Natuto!"


	4. Chapter 3 - Visiting the Boys Dorms

Recap

Sakura ripped her headphones from her ears and threw them, along with her touchscreen phone to the bench beside Temari before jumping up and sprinted forward so that the two could meet each other half way.

As soon as they did, Sakura leaped into the blond-haired boys arms, wrapping her legs around his waist tightly, hands around his neck as those of his own wrapped around her thin waist to hold her light frame up. The boy span around in a circle continuously and laughed together with the girl in his arms, taking no notice and not even caring about those that watched as their moment of reunion was much more important.

Slowly slowing to a stop, the boy set Sakura down, just noticing the small tears beginning to leak from her eyes, and began to wipe them away with the back of his thumb. "Sakura-chan..." Said girl smiled lovingly up at him, as if nothing could ruin their reunion and spoke his name dearly as she brought him back into a breathtaking hug.

"Natuto!"

* * *

Kiba, Sasuke and the two other still unnamed boys watched as the blond-haired idiot sped off down the path towards the fountain, Kiba shouting after him and asking what in the world he was doing.

The group could only gape, mouth handing open for all the flies in the world, as a gorgeous girl jumped into the blonds arms as if lovers who hadn't seen each other in what seemed like years. Which they didn't know was actually true... except for the lovers part.

The two spun around together for what seemed like hours, laughing like mad people. When they finally stopped and the blond had set the mysterious girl down, the group decided to find out what was going on. Although Sasuke and the boy with a pineapple hair style didn't really care much, they would be lying if they said or even though that they weren't even the tiniest bit interested.

Arriving at the two, seemingly acquaintances or more, Sasuke cleared his throat rather loudly, not to mention on purpose, to catch everyone's attention.

* * *

Sakura was so indulged in looking at Naruto, taking in how much he'd grown and changed since over 8 years ago that she didn't notice anyone else approaching, until someone cleared their throat, rather loudly. The two turned their heads at the same time to see Sasuke standing there along with Kiba and the two other still unknown named boys.

Sakura couldn't help but look the boys over, trying to analyse what they could be like by the way they looked. She did this as Naruto introduced them to her "Ah! Sakura-chan. These are my friends..."

"Uchiha Sasuke" Naruto gestured to the boy leading the group, who nodded mutely at her in return. Sasuke looked as thought he was one of the bad boy types and is always surrounded by the girls with his great features, luscious raven black hair that seemed to be tinted blue and those almost black eyes, as if a dark abyss trying to suck you in. He wore black jeans tucked into combat boots and a white shirt with his sleeves pulled up to his elbows as well as a necklace of a black and red fan hanging from his collarbone. For normal girls, it would be hard to look away from him, but Sakura wasn't a normal girl and didn't batter an eye before turning to the next.

The next boy seemed to be the player type, like Kankuro, though he seemed to be a bit of a dog lover from what Sakura could analyse so far. His shaggy brown hair gave him the hot messy look which some girls would squeal, even go as far as to faint at and his chocolate-brown eyes could gaze into yours and put you under a spell. He was wearing brown shorts that ended just below his knees, dark trainers and a blue t-shirt with a hoodie tied around his waist. What Sakura found most interesting about the boy, however, was the two large red upside down triagles tattooed onto his cheeks "He's Inuzuka Kiba"

Turning her gaze once again, Sakura came face to face with a boy who had a pineapple hair style and a lazy look to his face, his maroon brown eyes casting themselves over her throughout, as if doing the same thing she was, which he probably was because from what Sakura had observed from him so far, he looked to be the intelligent type... though he also looked as though he'd rather be anywhere but there at the moment. He was wearing smart black pants and smart dark brown shoes, a white shirt tucked both in and out of his pants, with a belt fastening said pants down. "Nara Shikamaru"

Last but not least, there was a slightly big bones boy with light hazel coloured hair that was spiked up at the back and fell farther down his spine than any of the other boys hair. He had lovely grey eyes that he closed the minute he was introduced and Sakura noticed the bag of food he was munching on. She let a quiet laugh leave her lips, but it wasn't left unnoticed by the others. "And lastly, Akimichi Choji. Guys, this is Sakura. My childhood friend"

All eyes were now on the pink haired girl. This time, they took in her appearance: her rare shade of emerald green eyes, her silvery pink short hair with a single crimson streak that seemed as though it was on fire, her many piercings, her porcelain skin on top of kissable full pink lips and of course, her figure. Their eyes travelled along her long, slender legs before snapping back up to her face as they saw her tapping her foot on the ground.

"Well" Sakura started through a sigh "My name is Haruno Sakura, Yoroshiku. I hope you've treated Naruto nicely" Her too sweet to be true smile at the end told the group of boys that if she found out they were treating Naruto badly... well, perhaps they'd lose something precious that was deeply needed for future uses. Naruto burst out into laughter at his friends expressions, but definitely didn't miss out on how Kiba was eyeing his childhood love with 'those' eyes. Oh, the fights they were going to get in to from now on...

With a call from behind the large group, Sakura turned around to see Temari leaning her weight on one leg with her arms crossed underneath her chest, a thin eyebrow raised. "When you said you knew him, I didn't think it was in that way Sakura. You should have told me sooner" wriggling her eyebrows suggestively, Temari nudged Sakura in the ribs and smirked as if she wad having fun messing up the already bad enough situation. Which she really was.

In all, Temari could already tell that Sakura and Naruto weren't together in 'that' way. She could see the love in Sakura's eyes, as well as Naruto's, but it wasn't the same way that the blond felt for the pinkette. Temari could only feel sorry for Naruto, although there was more hope for Hinata this way (A young girl who has had a crush on the blond idiot since the day they met, which was over 6 years back)

Sakura shook her head with a smile and began explaining to them what kind of friends really were "We're not together in that way, Naruto and I just love each other as a brother/sister would" No one, except for Sakura herself, noticed the crestfallen look that graced her childhood friends features but she didn't dare to mention anything with everyone else there for them to hear it. From the day it began, Sakura knew that Naruto had feelings for her.

She was a smarter than the average kid after all.

However, Sakura also knew that she could never return those feelings as the only thing she would ever see him as was a non-blooded brother. Naruto would find someone else to give his love to, she could practically feel it, see it in the depth of her mind. His girl would be young, beautiful and caring, and would express the same feelings back.

Naruto, stepping out from his inner emo corner, realised that he had something to be angry for, and turned said anger towards the pinkette, hand raised and index finger pointed. "Oi! you haven't yet told me what happened that day! I came back to see you every time but as usual you were still gone. I'm not an idiot" At this his friends, as well as Temari and Sakura gave him _'really?_' looks. But Naruto simply ignored and continued his rant. "I knew that you left the same day I did. Explain Sakura-chan!" By the end he was panting for breath and all eyes focused on the pink haired girl, who at the moment was fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Um... Naruto. I promise to tell you, just not now and when we're alone. Ne?" The blonde contemplated this for a moment, but nodded after a moment causing his friends (mainly just Kiba and Temari) to groan internally in disappointment. Although they knew that it was private matter between the two, they really wanted to know what happened 'that' day.

"Anyway, let's go and catch up Sakura-chan? With a nod of her head, her cherry blossom locks falling in front of her face, Sakura took a hold of Naruto's arm and the two began walking away, not even sparing the others a second glance.

Kiba was the first of the boys to react and sprinted after the two who had walked unusually fast and were already almost to the boys dorms. Seems they couldn't wait to sit down and talk to each other. It had been over 8 years after all, since they even looked one another in the eyes.

"Oi, Sakura-chan!" The dog boy received many-a raised eyebrows at the, but nothing was said "How come I haven't seen you around here before? Ya new?" "Yeh, I just arrived today. Didn't think the school would be this huge though" "I know right? It's the biggest school in the city, known for It's-" Kiba didn't get a chance to finish as she interrupted him "Academic, music and sport scholars. I know" While the two were talking, Naruto began to feel rather, that was a lie... a lot, left out. His childhood friend had finally come back to him, and Kiba was keeping her all to himself.

Pushing the two away from each other, Naruto hugged Sakura tightly, his arm around her shoulders causing her to push into his well-defined chest. The blond payed to attention to Sakura as she began her struggle, not really, to get away from her childhood friend, and practically bared his teeth and growled like a wild animal at Kiba. "Stay away from Sakura-chan mutt boy! She doesn't need to start smelling like dogs like you already do!"

And just like that, the two boys got into a very heated argument, leaving Sakura somewhere off to the side as she watched the scene before her play out.

A sigh left the poor girls lips. She didn't turn around to acknowledge the others who came up to her from behind and merely asked "Is it always like this between them?" "Yeh, its such a drag having to be the ones to listen to it as well" Hearing the new voice that didn't belong to anyone she talked to/ heard speak so far, Sakura turned to see the face that matched the somewhat lazy voice.

"Shikamaru... right?" "*sigh* Yeh, that's me" The pink haired girl hummed before letting her gaze shift to Sasuke who stood with Temari and Choji. "So, what's there to do around here? I kinda don't wanna watch them battle it out for the rest of the evening" Sakura tilted her head back and looking up at the slowly reddening sky. It was true though, what she said. She didn't feel like watching Naruto and Kiba make a fool of themselves... although she felt as though she was somewhat a reason why the argument began in the first place. Perhaps she should stop 'em... '_Na, I'll leave them be for a while'_

Temari was the first to answer and she couldn't help but smirk at the great idea that wad coming to mind. "Well, the guys have a bar in their basement. We use that often, it gets pretty crowded on the boring nights, such as tonight though" She watched as Sakura made a thinking face, smiling happily when her pinkette friend gave a nod of her head.

_'Awesome! This way I can introduce her to Gaara! I'm sure he'll be there'_ Temari squealed inwardly, having thoughts of setting the two up. Gaara needs someone kind like Sakura and there is definitely no one else she knows that might be able keep the redheaded boy on a leash. Besides, if Sakura can get Naruto to follow her every command like a puppy following its mummy, and get Sasuke and Shikamaru interested enough to hang around, then that in itself is an accomplishment.

A cough interrupted the girls short conversation.

The two turned to Sasuke, a smirk was edging over his features, his eyes darkening with what seemed to be... mischief? "You do know that you need one of us to escort you, right?" Temari rolled her eyes. They could just go to their own disco/bar beneath their dorms (the girls), but normally the guys weren't allowed because of an incident that happened last year. Let's just say that the girls had a lot of cleaning to do that Sunday...

Temari had to resist a shiver that was about to travel up her spine and as she came back from her thoughts, she noticed Sakura turning to leave in the direction of a certain blond-haired idiot.

"Ne, Naruto! Could you be our escort?" "Sure Sakura-chan, anything for you" The others sweat dropped, apart from the pinkette, at the boys immediate reply. '_I bet he'd do anything she asked at the skip of a heartbeat...'_ Was what was going through their minds... along with the fact that she could probably control the boy to abide to her every bidding.

"Well, we look fine as we are so let's go already. School starts tomorrow so we can't stay up to late though" Sakura nodded at Temari's thoughts and grabbed Naruto's arm. She gave him the '_well_' look and that was all that Naruto needed before be began speeding down the path, Sakura being dragged along after him and Kiba hollering after them to wait up.

The others that were left in the trio's dust, sweat dropped and began following suit. Although Shikamaru had no idea about why he was going along with them. All he felt like doing really was watch the clouds until night fall, on top of his favourite cloud watching spot. However, for some reason he wanted to follow Sakura and see what more interesting things she would do.

Trudging forward, the group came up to a similar building to the girls dorms. Many numbers of boys were leaning against the walls, smoking cigarettes and drinking, and as Sakura and Temari waltzed inside together, they caught a bit of unwanted attention. Temari took this in a good way and shared a wide grin. However, Sakura didn't really care and merely kept her eyes on even as multiple guys wolf whistled and called out to them.

Stepping inside the building, Sakura turned her head to the right and saw the lounge area since there was no door and only a knocked down wall. She couldn't help but grin. It was amazingly set up and the colour scheme was perfect; Many blue, black and brown couches and recliner chairs were situated in front of one of the largest flat screen TVs (which hung off the wall) that Sakura had ever saw. There was a drinking are off to the right with high stools behind a high top counter and a pool table, ping-pong table, darts, pinball machines and more games situated off to the left of the large room.

Sakura turned her gaze away as they passed the lounge area and they stepped up to the elevator. As soon as they stepped inside, the pinkette decided to ask something that had been bothering her since she saw her room. "Hey, is the principle of this school rich or something? Cause there's no way in hell any other school would give the dorm rooms their own kitchen. And a bar, really?" Temari chuckled at the question and was about to be the one to reply when she was rudely interrupted by Kiba. "Yeh, I heard she came from a well off family, plus she used to gamble and from what you can see here, she was good-" "But-" Temari burst back into the conversation to finish that sentence off "-The over 16's are the only ones actually allowed to use it. If any of the younger kids get caught then they get suspended or something like that"

Sakura hummed and gave a nod in understanding as a comfortable silence passed through the group. Well, except for the munching of chips that Choji was eating. He had been silent the entire time since she met him and she was beginning to wonder is he was mute. _'This school years gonna be pretty interesting... I hope at least'_ As soon as she thought this, the lift bell dinged and the door slid open to the left.

Music instantly blared into Sakura's ears and she cringed slightly. The room was dark with many coloured lights here and there as well as small booth like areas all over the place which were lighted normal; somewhere where someone could sit and relax without getting a headache.

In the middle of the large basement room was a bar which went around in a circle and had high stools around where you could sit before or after having danced. You could also see a dj in the corner of the room playing music non-stop, seemingly a professional by how fast he was doing his job.

Many guys were dancing in the middle of the dance floor along with the little amount of girls in between. There were also many guys sitting around and drinking some sorts of alcohol - hitting on girls, making out with them or just sitting back and enjoying their drinks.

Smiling to herself, Sakura nodded in deeming it nice. "Looks great. Didn't actually think it would look like an actual bar... hahaha" The others gave the girl weird looks, but Sakura merely rolled her eyes, grabbed Temari by the elbow and dragged her away: destination? dance floor! She didn't even spare the guys a single glance as the left, causing some random irritation from Kiba and laughter that came from Naruto. "That's Sakura-chan for you" And with that said, the blond idiot followed suit, calling the pinkettes name every second of the way.

Sasuke glared at the space of the trio who had just left, before doing the same. However, he walked off into a different direction of a certain someone who had just before caught his eye.

Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba were the only ones left... let's re-state that: Kiba had run off chasing after some girl who 'winked' at him, so that left the two normal boys. With a sigh, Shikamaru made his way over to the bar to get himself a drink, Choji hopping along with him with intentions to get something to eat; most likely crips... again.

* * *

Naruto watched from his spot leaning against the bar as Sakura and Temari danced together, a drink of alcohol in his hands. His eyes scanned over Sakura's form as her hips moved from left to right in a swinging motion, as she swayed her arms to the movement of the pounding music. He couldn't help but feel his mouth dry at the sight, a weird feeling coming from his stomach. The lighting shone against her hair, making it glisten as it hung around her shoulders before swishing along with the movement of her body; Her white skin turned milky cream and made you just want to touch it.

Shaking his head to snap himself out of his thoughts, Naruto sat on a nearby bar stool and leaned his elbow on the counter with his head on his hand, a sigh escaping in lips. He really wanted Sakura, so bad that just by looking at her he could feel his legs walking forward with a mind of their own. However, he knew that Sakura would never feel the same way. She saw their relationship as that of a brother and sister. Another sigh, one of depression this time, left his lips as a grey cloud hung above his head...

* * *

Sakura's mouth was beginning to dry up from all the dancing and she felt as though she needed a drink - no alcohol mind you. But just 'cause she doesn't drink doesn't mean she can't. Sakura can hold her liquor fairly well, she herself thinks, but she just chooses not to as It's not a good habit to get into. As someone who aims to become a doctor, she knows what too much alcohol can do to your body.

Tapping Temari on the shoulder, Sakura practically had to shout to tell her that she was off to the bar for a drink.

As she walked, she didn't notice the person speed walking next to her and was bumped into. Being the slight klutz that she is, Sakura lost her balance and was about to fall flat on her face when a large masculine arm wrapped around her waist and kept her from doing just that. The pinkettes breathing was unsteady, still a bit tired from the dancing, and her chest heaved up and down as she took large gulps of air.

The, what seemed to be a man from the feel of his hard 6 packed chest on her back, smirked as he glanced down at the girl he saved. A deep chuckle vibrated through his system and Sakura could feel it through the touching part of their bodies as they were so close.

His voice was so deep and husky (probably from the alcohol) as he spoke that it startled Sakura slightly, making her shiver as his hot breath fanned over her ear.

"You should watch your step, little kitten"


	5. Chapter 4 - Meeting the Younger Brother

Recap

As she walked, she didn't notice the person speed walking next to her and was bumped into. Being the slight klutz that she is, Sakura lost her balance and was about to fall flat on her face when a large masculine arm wrapped around her waist and kept her from doing just that. The pinkette's breathing was unsteady, still a bit tired from the dancing, and her chest heaved up and down as she took large gulps of air.

The, what seemed to be a man from the feel of his hard 6 packed chest on her back, smirked as he glanced down at the girl he saved. A deep chuckle vibrated through his system and Sakura could feel it through the touching part of their bodies as they were so close.

His voice was so deep, husky and slightly playful (probably from the alcohol) as he spoke that it startled Sakura slightly, making her shiver as his hot breath fanned over her ear.

"You should watch your step, little kitten"

* * *

A few seconds passed by as the two stood (well... hovered for Sakura - in the man's arms) in the middle of the basement floor bar. In said span of time, Sakura was daydreaming slightly about what just happened. She came out of said daze as the arm around her waist moved its place so that Sakura was standing on her own; she stumbled slightly from the sudden movement, however her helper didn't let go until she was really ok - something Sakura was thankful for.

Snapping her head around to the man behind her, her body soon following suit, Sakura couldn't help but stare in awe.

The man in front of her was massive in height; he was a full head and a half taller than the pinkette - she only came up to his chest. He had spiky dark blue hair, grey eyes and gill tattoos a little to the top of his cheeks. What shocked Sakura the most though was his skin: it was tinted blue! freaking blue! '_Who has blue skin these days? What, is he trying to imitate a shark or something?_' After getting over the fact that the man's skin was BLUE! Sakura assessed his clothing; He wore long blue jeans that were tucked into black combat boots, a dark blue t-shirt with a shark on the front eating a fish that showed off his toned stomach and 6 pack, and a zipped down black hoodie with red clouds everywhere that had Its hood pulled back.

The man smirked down at the girl as he noticed her 'checking him out', so he did the same - to see what kind of girl he was dealing with here, as well as just for the fun of it.

She had short silvery cherry blossom pink hair with a single long piece that came down from behind her left ear which was dyed crimson. Her eyes were a rare shade of emerald which seemed to sparkle constantly in the lighting of the bar, the same with her milky cream skin that he couldn't help but think was paler if she wasn't in such a dark place. She wasn't very tall, only coming up to about his chest, he could definitely make fun of her for this! His thoughts stopped for a second _'That's if we ever see each again other in the future'_

Her clothing consisted of a grey tank top with a cream cardigan, the sleeves pushed up until her elbow, some short light denim jeans that showed off her long slender legs and a pair of brown sandals. When he noticed the many piercings in her ears, he smirked widely; she was a catch... that's for sure.

As he began to speak, mischief could be spotted dancing about in his eyes. He was going to have fun messing with this pinkette; he was sure of it.

"You see something you like? why don't you take a-" "Is your skin naturally blue?" Sakura had been snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of someone talking, but ignored what he was saying and decided to ask a question of her own that had been on her mind since she first saw him. This was the question that she'd blurted out. Perhaps she shouldn't have... she wasn't a naturally rude person, nor did she normally blurt out private questions like that. However, when she saw the blue high schooler in front of her, she couldn't help but want to know everything about him. Who wouldn't when they came face to... chest with such an interesting male?

You could literally hear the crickets over the loud thumping music as the blue man stared down at the pinkette with an unreadable expression. However, that silence ended completely when he burst out into fits of laughter. He just couldn't not laugh: no one had ever asked something like that to him so straightforward. Normally, all girls, or most of them at least, would either run away at first sight with a stupid made up on the spot excuse or just become too freaked out to move. Sure, he liked the fact that he had that effect on people, but sometimes it just became a bother and he simply wanted some female company, merely to have a short chat was fine. If anything, though, he wanted a girl he could call his own. Konan was a girl, yeh... but she never really liked to hang around him or the other guys. Perhaps, if this girl could look at him and not run away, she might like to hang out with him..

Finally calming down, the blue haired shark lookalike man grinned crazily as he stared down intently at Sakura "You're a weird one, but yes, it is natural. I was born like this. Hishigaki Kisame, nice to meet'cha kitten" "I see. It's nice to meet you to Kisame-san, but my names not 'kitten' It's Sakura, Haruno Sakura" With a shrug of his shoulders, Kisame placed his hand on the small of her back and began forcefully pushing Sakura towards a table near the far end of the room. He would definitely not let this one go, even if he had to force her to meet his friends...

This startled Sakura, though she, fortunately, didn't trip this time. "H-Hey!" Arching her back so that she was bending over, the pinkette ducked under Kisame's muscular arm and turned to face him with a scowl edged onto her features. "You can't just force someone to go with you like that. I barely even know you and I don't follow strangers around like some... *sigh* never mind" Sakura breathed out a sigh before continuing in a calmer voice "Anyway, I'm sorry but I'm here with some friends and should get back to them already. See you around maybe, Shark-boy!" All Kisame did was blink and Sakura was already running off with a backwards wave; her short silky pink hair bobbing around with the hop in her step and her hips swaying sexily (In Kisame's opinion) along with her fine and well-rounded ass. Oh he couldn't wait to tell the others of his finding...

He grinned as he turned around to continue on his way towards the table where his group was, however stopped as he realised something. _'That little!'_

* * *

While Sakura was walking in the opposite direction of the blue fish man, she was so deep in thought about said man that she didn't notice the small group of people before her and bumped into them... as well. This time however, Sakura knocked into a girl, not a fish; unknowingly, she didn't know how unfortunate this would be and how much it would have been better to just knock into another fish man...

The pinkette startled out of her thoughts and was about to bow and apologise when the girl she bumped into grabbed a hold of her collar and pulled her forward, rather roughly might I add. "What wrong with you!? Watch were your going you little freak!" The bar fell into a short silence as all gazes shifted to the red head who had just before shouted at the top of her lungs.

Said girl was wearing round red rimmed glasses that covered up her dark brown almost red eyes; her clothes consisted of a skimpy black skirt that ended above her mid-thighs, a red tube top that showed off her belly button and flat stomach, and black high heels that seemed to make up for her short height - which wasn't actually that much taller than Sakura herself.

Sakura scowled at being called a freak and, not even noticing the many pairs of eyes on her small form, retorted back "Maybe I wouldn't have to watch where I was going if your fat ass wasn't in my way. Besides it was only a small bump and I was about to apologise before you snapped, you may have glasses but are they really helping?" Her voice wad filled with venom but turned sarcastic at the end of her short rant. Once again, crickets could be heard in the background under the music. No one really liked Karin, but because of her family's wealth, fame and power, never has anyone really gone against her. So, you can see how surprised people were when Sakura did just that.

The two guys standing beside the girl stepped forward and the white-haired boy with purple eyes was the first to speak up "Hahahaha she got you there Karin!" The pinkette's gaze shifted up and down as she analysed the new boys appearance; he wore grey trousers, brown sandals and a purple shirt with its sleeves pushed up until his elbows. She marveled at his sparkly eyes and his unusual white hair, but she didn't judge. No... Sakura had pink hair after all, so why should she dare criticise him for his hair colour?

"Urgh! Shut up Suigetsu!" The red-haired girl, now known as Karin, hollered at the white-haired boy, also now know by the name of Suigetsu.

Karin seethed in anger, her face becoming almost as red as her hair. '_How dare she... how dare a nobody like her talk back to me like that!'_ In her fit of rage, she turned around to make another grab at Sakura, but before her hand could even come a few centimeters in contact, another hand shot out and grabbed her wrist in a vise-like grip.

Although Sakura knew that she would have been very able in taking care of herself, she couldn't help but feel more than a slightest bit grateful for the person who decided to help her; she didn't want to show how good she was at fighting just yet. She felt like it would be an awesome surprise to show it when she really needed it, most probably against someone stronger than a red-haired b*tch who only cared for herself. *cough*karin*cough*

Sakura's gaze finally shifted towards the person who had saved her from a punch... or a grab, and as soon as she saw said savior, her eyes widened considerably. The person had shaggy red hair and sea-foam green eyes... the pinkette couldn't help but find them gorgeous as they glistened in the bars lighting. His red hair reminded her of blood, but it seemed to match the boy perfectly. His skin, just like Sakura's, was pale and looked milky cream under the darkness of the barely lit basement room. He wore black jeans with a studded belt, although they didn't look like they were meant to hold his trousers up as they still hung loosely around his waist.

His shoes were black as well as casual looking and he wore a long-sleeved red shirt with its sleeves pushed up until his elbows with a black rock band (short-sleeved) t-shirt over it. Along with a chained necklace that ended over his collarbone, he wore a loose black leather bracelet on his right wrist. All in all, he was rather attractive... if you take away the crazed look in his eyes.

Though Sakura was grateful for the boys help, she couldn't help but wonder what would make him even bother... He didn't seem like the type to just help out random girls when he had the spare time. No, he looked more like the kind of guy who would do anything to get himself a good and would even wager his own life in a game of russian roulette. Now that Sakura thought about, she would probably wager her own life in said game, however only if the situation depended on it. Not like this guy who would perhaps do it for the fun of it.

As the mysterious boy turned his head towards her, Sakura took notice of the tattoo on his forehead, above his left eye. It was a kanji tattoo meaning Love. She felt the urge to raise an eyebrow, but kept down as to not insult the boy. He was after all, her savior. A shrill made both lose eye contact and turn back to the red-head that was now fuming with anger. However, that anger was not directed at Gaara. Oh no... said anger was directed pointedly at the pinkette. Said pinkette raised an eyebrow and gave her the 'really?' look.

Just as Karin was about to say something, which would have probably been a rather horrid comment, the red-headed boy narrowed his eyes. A chill surrounded the group of what seemed to be mostly, if not all, high schoolers as the silence became quite uncomfortable and stuffy.

Karin quickly changed her raging expression to that of sweet and innocence and cooed towards the red-headed boy: "Gaara-kun, you're hurting my wrist. Could you let go?" However, Gaara did the opposite of what she had asked and simply tightened his hold even further. _'I bet that's gonna bruise when she wakes up in the morning...'_ Sakura thought with a hidden grin and sadistic comment.

Suigetsu stepped forward again so that he was almost in front of Karin and held his arms up in a 'I surrender' position, a nervous grin covering his face as small beads of sweat fell down from his forehead. The white-haired, purple eyed, boy knew about the reputation that the red-headed boy in front of his had and, although he was interested in what he might do, didn't want to see it happen right now with his friend the victim. What he did want to know, however, was how the all around known Sabaku no Gaara knew the seemingly innocent looking pink haired girl who had just previously accidentally bumped into the still raging Karin.

"Ne, Gaara... Calm down ok? Karin is just in a sour mood 'cause she was dumped by Sasuke on friday. Lets just forget about what went on here and leave each other alone, Ne Juugo?" Suigetsu finished, ignoring the horrible glare he was receiving from Karin and turned towards another guy as he stepped forward into the lighting and out from being covered in the darkness.

Sakura took notice of the guys large build and tall form before taking in his actual appearance. He was about half a head shorter than Kisame, but still a head taller than herself. His hair was orange and spiked up all over the place and his eyes, like Karin, was dark brown almost red. His clothing consisted of a simple plain light blue v-necked t-shirt and dark brown trousers that were tucked into the same colour combat boots.

His face adorned a kind, heart warming smile as his gaze shifted towards Sakura and he gave a nod of his head, agreeing to his friends terms. Sakura smiled back, not taking any further notice of the glare Karin was, not very, secretly sending her way. _'This one is nice, I can tell_' Sakura concluded as she and Juugo continued to stare at each other.

Finally, after a few more seconds, Sakura bowed her head in thanks to the orange haired boy and turned back to, the now named Gaara, who had finally let go of the red-headed girls wrist. She couldn't help but think that his name suited him very much, but then it seemed as though lightning struck and she gaped as she just realised something.

* * *

Gaara craned his neck to the right to stare at the pinkette he saved, although he didn't know why he bothered, as he heard a gasp leave her lips. He was confused when he found the girl staring at him wide-eyed, as if he had an extra head. However, he then understood. She had heard of him before: Gaara, a bloodlusting monster who loved to fight and cared about no one other thank himself. Although, none of this way true... except for the bloodlusting part. But he couldn't help himself when that side of him came out and he couldn't get control of himself in time.

The shaggy red-head began to wonder why he even saved her if all that he'd get in return was a hated look and added in horrendous comments."Your Gaara?" Reluctantly, he gave a nod of his head to tell her that she was right and awaited the verbal abuse that he would normally get. Perhaps she would even slap him for coming near her; that had happened a few times in the past... although they would always run away soon after as they were worried he would kill them for hitting him.

However, that abuse didn't come as instead his, his hand was tugged up into those of the pinkette's own and she shook them many times, never once letting go. "So your Temari's little brother huh? Well, it's nice to finally meet you" A wide smile had formed over her beautiful features as she finished talked, as well as shaking his hands. Sakura didn't seem to take any notice to the wide-eyed looks the group around her was giving, nor to their gaping mouths. Though, she did see the slightly widened eyes of the boy before her. _'Seems Temari was right, he needs to have some friends, definitely if this is how he's going to keep acting when someones nice to him'_ Determined to be one of said friends, Sakura glared at Karin before tugging the still shocked Gaara away. Although, she did smile at Suigetsu and Juugo before doing so; they were trying to help and were nice to her (well, Juiugo was - he was like a big teddy-bead and Sakura couldn't help but gush at the thought of hugging him) after all.

Gaara didn't move an inch, except from walking as Sakura dragged him towards a table near the dance floor where Sakura had left Temari before, until he was pushed gently down into a seat. His eyes followed the pinkette as she sat opposite him, a smile still covering her pretty face. He began to wonder: how can she smile when she's around a monster like himself?

"Ah! I forgot to introduce myself as well! Gomen" Her head bowed slightly, before she continued on with her introduction "My names Sakura, Haruno Sakura and I'm your sisters new roommate this year. Yoroshiku" '_Ah.._' Gaara nodded his head mentally as he now knew how she knew his name as well as Temari's; she was a seemingly new student after all.

"Yoroshiku" Sakura was slightly surprised at how deep and gravelly his voice was; Never had she heard such a voice before, but that wasn't a bad thing. No, not at all. It suited him quite well, just like his name, hair and eye colour. Even the tattoo suited Gaara to a point where probably no one else could look as good with one of the same. She smiled softly at him as his gaze shot holes through those of her own. _'He's a curious one...'_

A comfortable silence passed by the two, however said silence was broken as a shout of the pinkette's name came from the crowd just before a dishevelled Temari popped out and ran towards their table. "Sakura! God! you were gone for ages and I began to worry" She started as she leaned over, hands on knees, just before her, seemingly having not noticed her younger brother at the other end. "News travels fast ya know. I can't believe you stood up to Karin like that and you only just got here..." She trailed off as her gaze shifted towards the red-headed boy and her eyes almost popped out from their sockets in surprise. "Gaara!"

Temari was quite shocked to see Sakura and Gaara already together, although she did hear that the boy did get Sakura out of her sticky situation. However, she thought that Sakura would have been a mile away already from the warning that Temari had given her when they were still in the room together, drinking hot chocolate. Apparently, her pink haired friend didn't know the meaning of danger, or anything of the sort, and decided it would be good to sit with the bloodlusting boy. '_Although..._' She pondered '_He hasn't killed/attacker or tortured her in any way or sort yet... perhaps this is a good sign_' She smirked at her conclusion and a new formed plan before nodding at her brother in greeting.

"Well, it seems that you two are already acquainted with each other" Another smirk before a sigh left her lips "Anyway, we should get going Sakura. It's already getting late and you still haven't unpacked your luggage or set out you uniform tomorrow have you?" The pinkette's eyes widened and she practically jumped up from the table, almost stumbling as her left foot clumsily hit the leg of her chair "I forgot!" She was about to leave when she suddenly stopped and turned back to face Gaara, a thinking look on her face. "Lets talk if we see each other tomorrow, Ne Gaara-kun?" And with that said, she gave a short wave and ran off before the ones left behind could even utter a singly word. What Sakura didn't seem to realise, was that she also left Temari behind in the process.

Said pig-tailed girl chuckled with a shake of her head and craned her neck to the right to see Gaara staring off after Sakura, an unrecognisable look hidden in his eyes. Although, Temari could pretty much guess what it was. "She's weird huh?" A nod was given in reply "But it's a good thing, don't you think?" Another nod was given in reply, though this one was after a few seconds of thoughts. "If you want, you could talk to her tomorrow. Don't worry about what others think 'cause Sakura sure doesn't" Gaara finally let his line of sight shift towards his older sister he gave a third and final nod. He was sure to see Sakura again and when that happened, he would actually talk to her and try to get to know her more. The pinkette was unlike any other girls he'd ever talked to, though now that he thought about it... Temari was the only female he'd ever talked to really.

"Well, I have to go to before Sakura messes up the place with trying to find her uniform. See you tomorrow Gaara" She waved and turned away, but looked back over her shoulder to give a last word "Oh, and tell Kankuro that when I see him... well, let his mind wonder about that" A sadistic grin graced her features and she cackled as she left the bar, not even bothering to tell Naruto or the rest of the boys that the two girls had already left.

Oh how riled up the blond idiot would be when he noticed his precious childhood friends was gone...


	6. Chapter 5 - Threatening Teachers

Monday morning was a usual morning for every student going to Konoha high; the sky was blue and cloudless, perhaps a bit of wind now and then, but all together a day where nothing could go wrong... am I right?

Wrong!

Just so happens that Sakura and Temari forgot to set their alarm clock, and this happened even though the two were getting ready last night so that nothing bad could occur the following day. Just goes to show you that no matter how much you prepare for something, anything could go wrong and ruin everything you worked so hard to get right.

the first of the girls to notice the problem was Temari as she reached for her phone to check the time. She thought it was too light out as she always got up earlier than most and something just didn't feel right. This leads up to Sakura's wake up call. As soon as Temari saw what the time was, she leaped out of her bed, literally, and because her feet were tangled inside her bed sheets, she fell face first onto the floor, letting out a load groan-It could even be heard through the almost sound proof walls.

Sakura, for one, wasn't one for waking up early and instead of going to help her friend, she turned around to face the other way, going back to sleep again. Rummaging through the walls, however, made it so that this didn't happen. "Sakura! Get up or we're gonna be late!" A grunt sort of noise left the pinkette's lips, but she still didn't get up, so consumed in het lovely dream.

A short moment later, her bedroom door slammed open and in came a fully dressed Temari trying to put one shoe on while she hopped towards the sleeping girl, a piece of toast hanging half way out from her mouth. "Sakura! If you don't get up right now I'm gonna go get a bucket of freezing cold water and pour it all over you!" Although it wasn't very understandable, you could still hear the pinkette's heart stop from the threat. Now, Sakura wasn't one for threats and normally didn't take any notice to them. However, when coming up with a threat of water, freezing cold at that, being poured on you while you sleep... she just couldn't stay down.

Sitting straight up, the pinkette narrowed her eyes at the sandy blond-haired girl, before throwing her covers from her body and stomping hunched over towards her clothes wardrobe. "What's the time anyway?" She yawned out, a hand covering her mouth and making it even less possible to understand. "8:15am... we got 15 minutes" A squeak of surprise left Sakura's lips as she began speeding through her clothes, trying to find her school uniform to wear which, she found yesterday and thoughts that it wasn't that bad-looking... She only had to make it adjust to her style.

A thought came to mind as Sakura got dressed (about last night) and since it wasn't going to leave her mind any time soon, she decided to ask about it with Temari. Which she would rather do sooner than later as if she didn't, it would be stuck in her head for the rest of the day. Now, that would be even more annoying than having Karin knock on your door and start bitching to you about anything and everything that's wrong with your face... or maybe that's worse?

* * *

As she stepped out of her bedroom, Temari turned to see Sakura wearing a navy blue almost black skirt that went down to her mid-thigh (a chain hanging from her right hip), black socks that ended a few inches above her knees and black and white converse. She wore a white button up shirt with a few buttons kept down showing a necklace with a silver cross that had designs of thorned vines going all around it and her long sleeves were pushed up until her elbows, letting you see the tribal bracelets adorning her wrists. Temari noted that she wasn't wearing her navy blue and silver tie, nor her navy blue blazer which had the schools logo on it - both of which she was supposed to wear.

"Ya know... you have a tie for a reason" The pinkette smirked with a shrug of her shoulders and quickly made her way to see of there was something to eat; breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all. "I'm not the one to wear anything to constricting and ties... someone could easily strangle you with that" Temari rolled her eyes at her reasoning, but couldn't help secretly agreeing.

In this school, there were some groups of people who might actually strangle you if you got on their bad side. "Well, I don't know of anyone who might actually do that... But there is this one group..." She stopped herself from continuing that sentence as she noticed Sakura's raised eyebrows and chuckled humorless as she took one of the apples that could be found in the pinkette's hands, still hungry even after wolfing down two pieces of toast.

Taking her bags and hanging it from one shoulder, Sakura made sure she had everything she might need, including her phone, headphones and purse, before following after Temari and leaving the room - making sure to lock the door behind her.

As the two began to rush to the building behind the dorms which they called 'school' Sakura decided to ask what was on her mind. "Hey Temari. Yesterday this guy called Suigetsu mentioned that Karin and Sasuke were going out, s'that true?" "yeh, unfortunately. I don't see what he saw in her though, she was always clinging to him and was bitchy to anyone who got too close; said stuff like "Sasuke-kun's mine and he doesn't want you around" *sigh*..." When the 4 pig-tailed girl spoke about what Karin said, she applied a more high-pitched, squealing tone which Sakura couldn't help but laugh at.

Walking out the elevator, the two girls met up with Tenten who was strolling alongside 2 other girls. One of the other girls introduced herself as Yamanaka Ino. She had long blond hair tied up into a high ponytail and a side bang that covered one of her icy blue-green eyes. Her clothes consisted of the same as Sakura, although she actually wore her tie (though it was pulled down further than should be) and her navy blazer, which was left open to reveal her white blouse - a few buttons left unbuttoned to show her cleavage.

The second girl, who introduced herself as Hyuuga Hinata (With a nervous stutter) had long very dark blue-purple tinted hair and lavender pupilless eyes. She also wore the same uniform as the other girls, though much smarter. Said three girls shared dorm room; Sakura found out that some of the students shared rooms with 3 or more people and that only the lucky ones got to have a room to either themselves or with a single friend.

"It's nice to meet you Ino, Hinata. My name's Haruno Sakura" With a nod of greeting in return and a 'hi, nice seeing you again Sakura' from Tenten, the 5 girls continued on their way toward school and as they did so, they conversed with each other about random things. Ino would mostly talk about boys of the school and how she loves Sasuke and that she was sure he'd be asking her out anytime soon, now that he'd dumped the hartless hag named Karin - the others would simply laugh and not tell her how likely that wasn't going to happen.

Hinata was a shy girl so she didn't speak much unless first spoken to and Tenten was very outgoing and bubbly; she and Temari spoke about martial art/weapons, Sakura joining in as soon as she heard the word "defence"

Stepping up to the building, Sakura noticed a head of lightning blond hair rushing her way. She was lucky she turned around when she did, otherwise she would have crashed to the ground and ruined her first time wearing school her school uniform.

Catching the sky blue-eyed boy as he glomped her to death, the pinkette let a small sigh leave her lips before smiling happily. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto began with a whine "Why did you leave without telling me yesterday?!" "Morning to you to Naruto" "haha... gomen" Turning to the other boys standing behind Naruto, giving him exasperated looks, Sakura nodded her head in greeting with a small smile gracing her pretty features "Good morning guys, sorry about yesterday. I had to get ready for today..-" "-don't know why we bothered though, forgot to set the alarm" Temari interrupted with a hand to the side of her head, which she was shaking in self disappointment. _'How stupid are we, huh?'_

"Guys... were gonna be even later if we don't get moving already" The group each gave a nod, though Shikamaru grunted out his all to familiar catch phrase "What a drag" instead.

With that said, everyone rushed inside the school, immediately noticing the crowded hallways. It seems as though most of the students were also late as they were all speeding through the corridors, trying to push past anyone and everyone who tried getting in their way.

With a sigh, Sakura quickly pulled out her schedule to see what she had for the first day and who with.

-Homeroom: Kakashi Hatake, Room 31  
-History: Kakashi Hatake, Room 31  
-Art/Photography: Kurenai Yuhi, Room 74  
-Advanced Chemistry: Orochimaru, Room 57  
-Lunch  
-Advanced Physics: Kabuto Yakushi, Room 54  
-Advanced Mathematics: Asuma Sarutobi, Room 61  
-Gym: Might Guy, Gym A

Temari, seeing that Sakura had taken out her schedule, glanced over the girl's shoulder and whistled. "Wow Sakura. You have quite a few advanced classes" Said girl chuckled and gave short nod of her head as she replied with a sarcastic comment. "It's not like I'm here on an academic scholarship or anything" "Alright! Anyway, it seems you have most lessons with me except for art and photography which basically only you and Hinata have" Said dark blue and purple tinted haired girl came up to Sakura and stated with a stutter "I-Its a small class that not m-many people take s-so we share it with the s-seniors" Sakura wondered why Hinata always stuttered and felt the need, more like want, to ask, however didn't as she found that it would be considered rude.

Still walking down the hall, Temari led Sakura up to a nearby door and stopped to turn and look at the pinkette "This is our home room. You'll probably have to introduce yourself to Kakashi though, 'cause he likes to know who he has in his classes. But, other than that, since he's a lazy person we won't have to do anything else" A raised eyebrow appeared on Sakura's face and she began to wonder if they would be getting anything done in History - if from what Temari had just stated, and their teacher was lazy, then Sakura would be in for a boring first lesson.

As they stepped inside the room, they were met with the sight of a gravity defying silver-haired man with a mask covering his face up to the bridge of his nose, as well as a band covering his left eye - Sakura pondered on the thought of why he needed to cover such a useful part of his body up. His clothing consisted of a white buttoned up shirt, smart black trousers and even smarter black shoes. He wore a loose black tie that was tugged down a bit further than should be and 3 of his buttons were unbuttoned. All together, the man had a lazy aura surrounding his as he sat at his desk with his feel propped up on said desk, an unknown book in hand.

Temari walked right up to him and with a roll of her eyes, stole the book away from his grasp and held it high above her head, away from the seated teachers reach as he stretched out his long arms to try and steal it back; he was just too damn lazy to stand up. "Kakashi-sensei! We've brought the new student" Ino called from her spot by the door, just as the sandy blond pigtailed girl was about to say the same thing. Ignoring her harsh glare, Ino placed her hand on Sakura's back and lightly pushed her forward so that she was standing in front of the weird-looking man, as well as being in everyone's view-which was exactly something Sakura hated doing; she liked to keep out of the main attention zone and just spend her days in relaxation and silence with her friends.

While the others went to take their places at wherever there were free seats around the classroom, Kakashi finally let his gaze shift from his still stolen book and turned to greet/introduce himself to his cute new student; The man's eyes crinkled as he gave the pinkette a closed eye smile.

He didn't fail to take notice of the way she wore her school uniform,but being the kind of teacher he is, didn't bother in telling her off; Many of his other students would always wear their clothes in similar way. Take Sasuke for example: He never tucked his shirt in, wore blue and black trainers instead of the given, much smarter shoes, always kept his tie off and never buttoned up his blazer.

"Well as Temari just said - My names Hatake Kakashi and I'm going to be your home room, as well History teacher from now on. I hope we can get along and you won't ruin any of my lessons like a certain someone *eye moves over to a head of blond hair*" Leaving the subtle threat at the end of her 'something to care for' list, Sakura gave her own closed eye smile back and bowed politely. "It's nice to meet you as well kakashi. My names Sakura, Haruno Sakura" And just to spite him when he was trying to at least get along with her, the pinkette didn't bother to respect him as her teacher. Said teacher sighed and turned back to around sp that he was facing the front of his class - he would definitely be regretting taking on another student...

Taking a seat at the back of the class, Sakura sighed and placed her head on her hand as she gazed out the window. The classroom for home room was on the first floor of the building, which consisted of three floors and a roof. She had to admit that the school she was in now was probably the biggest she'd ever been to. Although the school in her last city was almost as big, it didn't have a swimming pool nor a gym the size of this were a bit poorer, ok... much poorer and that's when Sakura realised that she wouldn't be able to learn at her best. She needed a school where there was a good standard of learning and where she could use the best of her ability. Konoha High was definitely that school. On the plus side of having to move so far away, Sakura and Naruto were finally reunited-she was actually very glad she moved now.

Sakura was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice how much time had gone by. She glanced up to see Ino and Hinata, both of their bags on their shoulders as they smiled down at her. "We don't have History, but I'll see at lunch as well as Hinata at Art" "Ok, see you guys later" With a wave and a (shy) smile, the two girls left the room for whatever lesson they had next. Another person shortly after came up to Sakura's desk, namely known as Kiba. After much tugging, Choji and Shikamaru had finally pulled the boy away from the poor girl and made him leave the classroom before he was late for his own lesson: Maths.

The pinkette decided to see where Naruto was and to her surprise, was right in front of Temari who sat to her right. "I hateee History!" The blond idiot groaned into his desk as Sakura rolled her eyes "You never did like learning. Are you still as bad as before? Or have your grades finally improved?" "Sakura-chan! Your so mean. I wasn't that bad-" Noticing the look plastered over the pinkette's face, Naruto changed his answer and scratched at the back of his head. "-I mean, I've gotten better. Believe it!" As he turned back to the front to see if Kakashi was finally getting ready for teaching them something... for once, Sakura couldn't help but stare dumbfounded at the back of her childhood friends head.

In the many years back, Sakura could remember Naruto always shouting out his weird catchphrase that he'd probably inherited from his parents before they passed away. However, she didn't think he'd still say it, she thought he'd have grown out from it already.

A small, yet sad, smile graced her lips as she shifted her gaze to her own desk. The pinkette began to think about how much time she's spent away from her idiot blond of a friend. She missed the most important times of their lives together; Growing up away from him wasn't the best of choices, but Sakura knew that when Naruto would leave the orphanage, then they would most probably never see each other again. Sakura knew that no one would ever adopt a pink haired girl, she didn't even have any living relatives that she knew existed. So, on that day when she felt something was going to happen that would change her life, she packed and left-though she was relieved that she'd gotten to say goodbye to Naruto beforehand and that he wouldn't be alone anymore.

Thinking about it now, Sakura couldn't help but wonder what the man who adopted Naruto looked like. Was he nice to him and did he treat him like family. Glancing back over to the blond boy, who was now having a foolish argument with Sasuke, Sakura concluded that to have wound up the way he was, his guardian had been a good one, albeit slightly crazy (A/N - Oh how right she is ;))

Sakura was once again brought from her thoughts by Temari who was waving a hand in front of her face, perhaps a little too close for comfort, but she didn't bother telling her new sandy blond-haired friends off. "Something wrong Sakura? You spaced out a bit there and didn't look too happy" There was true concern showing in her eyes, although she wore a smirk, as she spoke.

The pinkette nodded her head once as she pushed Temari's still waving hand away. "I'm fine, just thinking about something I shouldn't be" "Are you-" She was interrupted by Kakashi who slapped his weird book down his desk and stood up to talk to the rest of the class. "Alright, today were going to be starting on the roles of woman during the 1900's" A bunch of groans resounded across the room before they were quieted down by the sound of Kakashi dragging his nails down the length of the whiteboard at the front of the class; everyone held their hands to their ears to keep out the noise that sounded strangely like a cat being strangled to death (how they knew this...?) "No moaning, just pass out the textbooks and begin researching"

With a sigh, Temari stood up from her seat and turned to Sakura, giving the pinkette a wink "I'll go get us a book seeing as no one else will hand 'em out" "Thank Temari" A shout came from Naruto as the sandy blond pigtailed girl walked to the shelves at the back of the class "Oi! Get us one as well" When Naruto turned his head back around, he didn't notice the annoyed glint in Temari's eyes - that... was his downfall.

"Argh!"

Sakura could barely hold back her laughter as a rather thick and heavy looking textbook soared passed her and hit her childhood friend right in the back of the head. "Score!" Temari shouted as she came back over, 2 books under an arm, and gave the pink haired girl a high-five. "Ahh! What'd you do that for Temari? And don't laugh Sakura-chan!" The girls raised an eyebrow "As if you don't know why" "But I don't-hey! Don't ignore me!" But alas, the two had already pushed their desks together and got to work on researching womans' roles in the 1900's.

* * *

Sasuke, noticing the Naruto was sulking, rolled his eyes and pushed his desk together with his, catching the blonds' attention in the mean time. "What are you doing teme?" "*sigh* Wouldn't it be better to research together? That way we will do double the work in the same amount of time. Just look at Sakura and Temari" After a moment of thinking about whether or not to work with his rival/best friend, Naruto gave a nod of his head and the two also began to get to work... finally!

As the hour went on, Sakura and Temari had got a bit of work done. They had finished most of their research and wrote it down, now all they had to do was wait until the bell went so they could go to their next lesson. Sasuke and Naruto however... well, they ended up arguing all through their researching so they'd gotten barely anything done and had to ask Shikamaru and Choji about copying their work-which also wasn't much as Shikamaru had much rather slept and Choji would merely sneak crisps from his school bag to eat.

"Well, I'm not going to give you homework... just make sure you know about the womans' roles for next lesson I have you" Waving his hand to the classroom door as a gesture to leave, Kakashi went back to reading his weird book with his legs propped up on his desk.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura packed her things inside her bag and left the room with Temari at her side and the guys following suit. "Hey Temari, could you point me in the direction of the my next lesson? Hinata's the only one out of you guys who I have for Art and she's not here" "Sure" The sandy blond-haired girl walked down the hallway until she came up to a staircase, where she stopped. "Just go up to the second floor and take you first left. The Art rooms are down there; I'm sure you'll know which one's yours from the door number" "Thanks! I'll see you at Lunch then!" With a hug from Naruto - who had to be pulled away 'cause he wouldn't let go - and a wave from everybody else, Sakura began her way up to her next class.

When applying for Konoha High, Sakura decided that she'd take up Art and Photography as side subjects since she had extra lessons space. All her other lessons were taken up by advanced subjects, including History, Geography and Sport. Sakura loved sport, so she also decided to take double of that; now she had an extra lesson of physical education whereas her friends who didn't take it would have it only twice or thee times a week.

Finding her classroom wasn't as tough as she first thought it would be. Just as Temari had previously instructed her, Sakura walked up the stairs and made a turn left. Her next class was soon found almost near the end of the hallway, which wasn't a bad thing-she only had to walk for a minute or so.

Sliding open the door, after taking a small breath of self reassurance, the pinkette strolled up to the desk where a woman teacher was sitting, looking over a black laptop. She had mid-back raven hair and beautiful crimson red eyes. Her clothes consisted of black trousers (Like Kakashi wore, only more feminine) and a red button up shirt with two of its buttons unbuttoned. Instead of smart shoes, however, she wore tight healed boots that went well with the rest of her outfit.

The women smiled up at Sakura and stood herself to greet the new student.

"You must be Sakura" After receiving a short nod, she continued "Well, as you can probably see, I'm your Art and Photography teacher, Kurenai Yuhi. I hope we can get along and that there won't be any trouble from you" '_Just like what Kakashi said_' Sakura decided to ignore the subtle threat from her teacher and bowed out of politeness before turning to glance around the room and trying to find where Hinata was. When the pinkette found her, the two smiled from across the room at each other as a silent 'Hey'

"Can I sit anywhere?" "Huh? Oh, sure. Go ahead" With the permission she was nicely granted, Sakura practically skipped over to the table in the middle of the room and sat beside Hinata, while opposite a boy with raven hair and equally dark eyes. "Hey Hinata-chan" "S-Sakura-chan" They shy girl spoke with her usual stutter and a nod before gesturing to the boy across from them. "This is Sai" The pinkette turned to the boy, who had just stopped drawing in a sketch book and shifted his gaze to the new arrival as well. "I'm Haruno Sakura, Yoroshiku" She kind of expected the weirdly emotionless boy to talk, but he didn't and instead just gave an obvious fake smile before going back to drawing.

Sakura decided it would be in her best interest to simply ignore the boys attitude and instead she asked Hinata what it was she was supposed to be doing. However, before the shy girl could answer, their art teacher strolled right up to them and began to explain instead. "Today you can do anything from painting to sculpting. But from your next Art lesson your going to have to produce 11 contrasting pieces, which can be any form of art you wish, to put together in your art portfolio which will be handed in by the end of the term. Got it?" The two girls showed their understanding with a nod. When Kurenai left the table and had gone back to her desk, the two girls turned to each other to ask what they were going to do.

"I-I'm going to d-do a painting, h-how about y-you Sakura-chan?" The pinkette couldn't help but giggle at her new friends shyness, It was just so adorable. "Same with me. I'm only really good at Painting and Photography so anything else... I'd fail it. I'll go get everything so tell me what you need ok?" After memorizing everything she needed to collect, Sakura got up from her seat and began, with instruction from Hinata, towards where everything was being kept - in a large closet at the back of the classroom.

Not noticing how close she was to the back table, Sakura's foot was caught on said tables leg and she fell down to the ground with a yelp. However, while she expected the hard, cold floor to come in contact with her face, she didn't expect anyone to catch her...


	7. Chapter 6 - A New Enemy or a Friend?

Recap

After memorizing everything she needed to collect, Sakura got up from her seat and began, with instruction from Hinata, towards where everything was being kept-in a large closet at the back of the classroom.

Not noticing how close she was to the back table, Sakura's foot was caught on said tables leg and she fell down to the ground with a yelp. However, while she expected the hard, cold floor to come in contact with her face, she didn't expect anyone to catch her...

* * *

As two strong, too masculine to be female arms wrapped around Sakura's thin waist she couldn't help but remember back to last evening when she was in the same position with Kisame. The way his muscular arms, albeit larger than the ones now fastened around her waist, held her tightly against his toned chest... She shook her head to get the weird thoughts that were entering without her permission away.

Not a moment later from falling, her 'savior' pulled her back up into a standing position. However, their hands were still held down on her shoulders - perhaps to make sure she wouldn't fall again due to slight shock and dizziness; that happens to people quite a lot these days, definitely to a certain pink-haired girl.

Taking a moment to righten herself, the pinkette craned her neck to the right, only to come face to neck with a long blond-haired 'girl' (that looked surprisingly much like a boy - Sakura thought at the back of her mind) with beautiful cerulean eyes. She took a step back, the girls hands still fastened down on her shoulders, to get a better look at her.

She wore the standard boys' uniform, although the tie was missing and the white shirt was left open to show a light blue t-shirt with the words 'Art's a bang' and a bomb blowing up printed onto it. Her smart black trousers had chains hanging off from them as well as a black studded belt - though she had no idea as to why she was wearing it as they did no help in keeping the pants from falling low on her hips; hips that were surprisingly narrow for a 'girl'.

While Sakura was busy assessing her savior of a sort, said 'girl' was doing the exact same thing to her, only a bit more shamelessly; the smirk that graced his attractive features only grew more as he noticed how good the girl looked. Although at first he wondered how anyone in the world could have pink hair that look so natural, the blond noticed how it suited her - it matched her rare shade of emerald eyes wonderfully, making them stand out much more on her flawless face: porcelain skin, cute nose, long eyelashes and full, kissable lips. And even though he thought she'd look even cuter if she wore her uniform more girly, he found that she went well with the bad-girl look. The many piercings only made her much more attractive and he wondered if there were any more in other places...

Hearing a clearing of a throat, both blond and pinkette turned around to face the source of the noise (Sakura's savior finally letting go of her shoulders) and found themselves staring at a very nice looking (Not in the personality kind of way...) boy with crimson red hair and rusty-brown eyes. Sakura noticed that the boy looked very much so like Gaara: his red eyes, and his aura even more so; he did have more of a bored look to his expression, which seemed natural and constant, that Gaara didn't have, though.

Much like the blond-haired, blue-eyed 'girl' who helped stop her from falling flat on her face and from acquiring a 'nice' bruise, the red-headed boy wore his uniform the same way. However, instead of having a blue shirt underneath, he had a dark red almost brown shirt (like his eyes) with the words "Art is eternal" inscribed on it in black with a wooden doll that had strings attached to its limbs underneath.

"Stop just standing around and get what we need, Deidara" The red heads voice was deep, yet velvety and gracefully; he sounded like the type of guy who held himself well. Sakura began to what her 'savior's' voice was like when she realised that 'her' name had already been spoken. _'So her name's Deidara huh? Sounds like a boys name'_

Said blond boy rolled his eyes before turning back to the girl that he'd helped. She wasn't very tall, coming up to just above his shoulders at most, so he had to tilt his head down a notch to get a full look at her. Without turning her head back to the person at the table, he spoke in a playful voice that was masculine enough for Sakura to think that the person wasn't a girl, but the pinkette shoved that thought to the back of her mind.

"Don't worry Sasori, un. I'll get them... eventually" "..." he didn't get a reply from 'Sasori' who, at the moment was becoming quite annoyed and just wanted to start on his carving but couldn't do just that because his Art partner was trying to flirt with a, he was regretting even thinking this, pretty girl.

"Um... thanks for helping me" Sakura wondered if she sounded shy at all, 'cause if she something, she's anything but shy. Normally, she would act like the good girl and the scared girl to see peoples' expressions when she revealed that she was quite strong and was actually a bad-girl; I mean,what will the other school kids' expressions be like when they see her riding her black and red motorcycle, that she's having shipped from her old city, to school - Oh, she can't wait.

Glancing the blue eyes 'girl' in the eye, the pinkette awaited her reply. "It's ok, un" As a short silence passed by the two, plus Sasori at the table, Sakura felt a question rising in her throat and tried her very best to keep it down... however that seemed to fail as she suddenly blurted it out "Why are you crossdressing?" '_What is wrong with me? First Kisame and now this person?_'

As soon as Sakura let the question slip, Sasori snapped his neck to the right so that he was facing the two. Even though the red-head found that what she was saying was her being very courageous, he couldn't help but think of her as an idiot - no one has ever lived to tell the tale when they called Deidara something even remotely to a girl and crossdressing... its much worse 'cause it makes it look like he has a fetish with girls so much that he wants to look like them.

"W-What did you just say, un?" The blond-haired 'girl's' right eye twitched in growing annoyance of not being able to blow the girl apart with his clay explosions. No one is stupid enough to call him a crossdresser - everyone who knows who he is knows what'll happen if you do. This girl... did she even know his name before Sasori mentioned it? he wondered... However, even if she didn't know her, he was still going to get back at her for saying such a horrendous and insulting thing. '_Crossdresser, UN?_!'

"what? Are you hard of hearing as well. I asked why you, a girl, is crossdressing, as a boy" Sakura wondered that maybe it was a bad thing to say all this as the 'girl' in front of her seemed to be on the verge of hitting her, or even worse - blowing her apart. If what 'her' shirt is insinuation, then this 'chick' loves explosions and Sakura would rather not be the next person on the list for 'demolishion time'. '_However... what's done is done and I can't change the fact that I've already blurted it out..._' "What the hell, un! Do I look like a girl to you?!" she... or he?... yelled at the pinkette, a fist raised high in the air as 'she' got ready to strike.

Inside his mind, he dared the girl to say anything more. However, it seemed as though she didn't think of him as any kind of threat as she merely raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms beneath her chest and spoke in a slow voice, as if she were talking to a 5-year-old. "If you didn't look like a girl, why would I bother asking or stand around here for that matter, instead of going to collect my stuff?" "You shouldn't have bothered asking at all! I'm blatantly a guy, un. Does it look like I have breasts?" Sakura looked as though she was actually considering it as she tilted her head to the left cutely and rose a thin pink eyebrow. "Well... I know some girls who haven't... fully developed yet. You could just be a late bloomer for all I know" "That's it! un. Just wait until I get my hands on you!" "I'm sorry, but I don't swing that way" Deidara was shaking, he was so angry that he was shaking in a fit of rage. '_How dare this bitch!'_ (Oh if Sakura knew what he'd just called her) "Why you little-"

Sasori, who has silently watching the two go at it, was slightly intrigued. She was either an idiot who was just trying to cause a scene and perhaps, like the others who tried, get attention, or she really thought Deidara was a girl. He kind of wanted to see how far the pinkette would keep up this tomfoolery, however, as he noticed his blond partner's anger skyrocket, decides it'd be best to atop the argument from escalating any further than necessary. "Deidara... stop it now" "What!? No way, I'm gonna get-" Sending an icy cold stare the blonds way, Sasori spoke in a deadly voice that even Deidara couldn't help but have to listen to, however reluctantly it was. "Just go and get our equipment" "*sigh* fine..." With that said, the now less angry boy trudged past Sakura, nudging her in the shoulder in the process, and went into the door beside the closet at the back of the class.

A short silence passed by the two that were left. Nevertheless, that soon ended as Sakura sighed and turned around to collect her and Hinata's things. She'd been gone already for about 5 minutes and the amount of time they would get for doing their artwork would decrease at this rate.

As Sakura did this though, Sasori called out to her in the same voice that he'd used with Deidara, trying to scare her into submission. "Wait girl" "Hm?" unfazed by his tone and scrutinizing look, Sakura placed a hand on her hip and shifted her weight to her right foot. "Did you purposely rile the brat up?" It didn't sound like a question to the ears of the pinkette - it seemed as if he knew all along that she was simply messing around with the poor blond boy.

Shrugging her shoulders, Sakura turned back around to fully face the crimson haired boy, catching his full attention in the process. "He looked fun to mess with. Besides, I was genuinely curious... to a certain extent..."

"...Your name?"

Now, Sasori wasn't really the type to ask girls' names just like this. However, if he was very interested in said girls then maybe... Sakura, she was a weird one in the least. Her looks and personality, from what he'd seen so far, clarify that.

"Isn't it good courtesy to say your name before asking that of the second person" She wasn't asking a question, she was stating a fact that he knew very well since he liked to say the same thing. A small part of his lip titled upwards into a tinchy tiny smirk. '_Interesting...'_ "Akasuna no Sasori" The pinkette replied with a polite bow and smiled as she came back into a standing straight position. "Haruno Sakura. Yoroshiku Sasori-san. Now, I must be going. Have fun" The last part of her farewell was given with a smug smirk for pissing the blond off and that Sasori would have to deal with him.

While walking away, Sakura gave a backwards wave, leaving Sasori to his own thoughts until his blond partner came back, all of their equipment filling his muscular arms.

"Huh? The bitch gone? un" "Haruno Sakura..." Deidara's head snapped to the red-haired boy in shock. "What'd you say?" "The girl's name... Haruno Sakura" Now, Deidara knew that Sasori was never interesting in girls, no... he was only ever there for his artwork. So, when the boy suddenly blurrs out the pink haired girls name... he is shocked overtime. "We should keep an eye out for that one" And with that said, he sat back down in his seat stoic as ever, grabbed his things and got to work. As he did so, The blond boy noticed a hint of a smirk gracing his attractive features, shocking him even further... '_What. the. hell!? UN!_'

"What's got you so excited? it can't be that pink haired freak right? un" His crimson haired partner didn't answer for a few moments, but as he glanced towards the back of the classroom, his smirk widened into that of a visible one, curiosity as well showing in his eyes. Deidara almost fell over backwards at the mere sight before craning his neck over towards the backroom cupboard where the pinkette was currently stalking out of; in her arms were a load of equipment - seemingly painting utensils as well as two easels. She looked like she was having trouble and was about to fall, so being the kind person that he is, Deidara rushed over and quickly took the two easels away while steadying the poor girl.

As she tripped on her own two feet (the equipment dragging her down even more), the pinkette didn't notice the blond speeding her way. So...you can see how surprised Sakura was when someone grabbed her easels away from her as well as helping her keep standing up. She was just about to yell and tell said person off with some very 'lovely' cuss words for shocking her, when she saw the long hair and blue eyes.

Her own emerald eyes softened and she decided to smile at Deidara, as a thanks. "Why are you helping me?" "Che... I'm not an asshole who would just sit back and watch as someone falls over... again" The pinkette chuckled quietly and looked straight into his cerulean eyes with sparkling ones of her own. "I'm sorry if I upset you earlier, although... it was fun messing with you-" She ignored the boys narrowing eyes and continued on with her heartful apology "-But I have to admit, your one of the most attractive guys I've ever seen, so be proud of it no matter if people think your of the opposite gender. Thanks for the help Deidara-san" And with a wink, a cheeky smile and some stealthy movements, Sakura had swiped her easels away from the now dumbfounded boy and rushed over to her table-her friend Hinata awaiting her rather patiently.

Slowly walking back over to his own table, Deidara took his seat opposite Sasori and simply stared of into space-his mind elsewhere and his eyes slightly glazed over from his dazed state. 'She called me attractive...' Sure, Deidara had been called hot, fit, handsome and all or those words before, but no one had ever said it to his face. When he was walking along the road, in the hallway, or any other public place, he could always hear the girl (and even some of the guys) talking about him. However, no one had ever said it straight out like that and without even looking in the least bit flustered or embarrassed. 'She's... one helluva girl...'

Seeing the grin form on the blond face, Sasori raised a fine eyebrow and decided to question what was on his mind. "What happened?" "Heh! She called me attractive right to my face and told me to be proud of it whether people think I'm a girl, crossdresser or not, UN!" Both turned to look at the pinkette as she began to draw on her canvas: first painting the background a really light grey that got slightly darker as you got to the bottom of the thick material. "You think she's the one Kisame knocked into last night? He did say she had pink hair and acted like a feisty kitten, un?" Sasori shrugged his shoulders, not really caring "He ran off before telling us her name so we'll just have to find out when they see each other again"

'_Todays a great day! un'_ Deidara hollered internally. For once in his life, he didn't have an argument with Sasori over Art (though he is right when he says "Arts a bang!") and he met a very interesting character.

'_Wonder what trouble she'll bring Konoha high_'

* * *

Sakura turned to Hinata and gave her a big smile "Hinata-chan?" "H-Hai Sakura-chan?" "Your an amazing drawer. I love the way you mixed the colours together to get that tone, it goes really well with the orchids, especially the way you distinguish the hot and humid colouring in the background. You must have done your research huh?" The shy girl gave a quick nod of her head and turned back to her painting as she spoke "Arigatou, I-Ino's family owns a f-flower business so s-she explained the d-different types of p-plants to me. Your is very interesting a-as well Sakura-chan. I would never have thought of such a thing to draw" Sakura in return giggled quietly as to not annoy Sai who was opposite them drawing cartoon people.

She took a look at her drawing and grinned widely. In her other city, Sakura was known for her wild imagination and creativity.

Today she had began her drawing of a woman blowing bubbles out of her mouth, which, half way across the paper, popped and turned into beautiful butterflies. She was going to colour it in black, white and grey; by doing this, she was sure that the picture would stand out and be much more unique and eye-catching. "Ah! Thanks you Hinata-chan. I was thinking about adding this one to my portfolio when we get it next Art lesson. It's well contrasted enough, right" The purple/blue-tinted haired girl nodded her head in agreement and smiled shyly.

Hinata was glad that another girl she actually knew had joined her art class, especially it being Sakura as the pinkette shared the same passion for art as she does.

_'Perhaps this year will be fun with Sakura-chan around'_


	8. Chapter 7 - Caution, Foul Language

Chemistry that day had gone by faster than Sakura had expected it to go and soon enough lunch had arrived.

Her chemistry teacher - Orochimaru - was a slightly weirder than should be adult who had an unusual liking towards snakes; so much that he would carry one of his favourites around his neck throughout the lesson with him - Manda, a large purple poisonous python (how he even managed to walk around, yet alone carry its weight escaped her mind).

Though he had informed the class that the reptile was practically harmless, most of the girls would back up any time it was within a meters distance. Sakura, on the other hand, had found the snake to be rather docile and had even gone as far as asking to pet him, ask to hold him. Although Orochimaru was rather surprised at her straightforwardness, he was never happier in having a female student in his lessons.

Some of the others girls had at one point, came up to the pinkette to ask how she wasn't in the least bit disgusted, but why should Sakura be? She did after all, in her old village, see that random man carrying his pet snake everywhere he went, and this was around the city, almost every other day. One of her most favourite animals was the snake to be honest. She wouldn't share this information out to just about anyone, however, as not many people liked the slimy skinned reptiles.

She had to say, the most interesting part of Chemistry was the part when a rather tall and muscular boy slammed the door open and stomped his way into the class, his silver hair slicked back and his purple, almost light enough to be pink eyes scanned the room in annoyance. He wore the regular smart black trousers and shoes, however his shirt was left fully open - revealing the view of his well toned chest to anyone who looked. Looking closer, the pinkette could see a silver necklace handing down just below his collarbone; it was seemingly a circle with an upside down triangle inside of it

_'Some type of religion?'_ Oh how true she was, except she had no idea of this yet.

Why he wasn't wearing something underneath? Sakura didn't know, nor did she care to bother asking. She just sat in her seat in the back of the class and awaited the moment Orochimaru would continue his lesson; she only hoped that would be soon as her favourite lessons, other than Art and PE, were Science.

Following behind the silver-haired brute was another boy, although visibly taller, with long dark chocolate-brown hair and weirdly coloured eyes: green iris with red outlining it and no pupil. '_Contacts_?' Sakura wondered as she continued assessing the boy (more like man by looking at his build) Like the other boy, he wore the smart black trousers, although they were tucked into dark green combat boots instead of hanging down over smart black, normal, shoe. And although his white buttoned up shirt was undone, he at least had the decency to wear something underneath to cover up his chest; nevertheless, it didn't hide the fact that he was just as muscular as his buddy, if not more so.

As Sakura was spacing out, she didn't take notice in the new boys change of direction and was startled considerably when a chair squeaked against the floor as someone dragged in out so they could sit down... right beside her.

It seems that the only two seats that were left vacant in the classroom were the two that she just had to pick to sit by. Why oh why didn't she just sit at the front of the room like most of the other kids opted to?

'_Oh well... what's done is done. Anyway, they can't be that bad... right?_'

However, by the pitying looks that most of the other girls in the class were sending her way, as well as the 'uh oh' looks she was receiving from the other guys, as well as Orochimaru (why would he feel sorry for her?) Sakura could only feel that she was wrong in thinking that the boys who were sitting next to her were in any way 'good'

Perhaps if she didn't look, talk or even breath in their direction, they would leave her alone... '_yes_' Sakura smiled in delight at her great plan _'they won't even notice my presence_' Oh how wrong she could be... As soon as the silver-haired boy noticed her gaze turn away, he decided it would be a good time to introduce himself... in a very unnerving way at that.

"Who the f*ck are you, **b*tch**?"

The pinkette's left eye twitched at what he had just called her, but she didn't even turn to look and continued to disregard his entire existence.

_'Hopefully he'll get the picture, see that I don't want to talk to him and maybe, with a sliver of luck granted from the heavens, he won't talk to me again_' It seems the silver-haired boy didn't understand what it meant when someone took the liberty to ignore you and just continued speaking, the words he was using getting more and more disrespectful by the minute.

"Hey! Didn't you hear me **b*tch**? Are you hard of hearing on top of butt-ugly?"

Okay... now he got her attention, but not in the way you would want when your around someone like Haruno Sakura. The last time someone had called her ugly, well... let's just say that he may not have the ability to produce children in the future, let alone even perform the act of mating without feeling even the slightest bit of pain. The pinkette cringed visibly at the mere thought of what she'd done to the poor guy and even though he kinda deserved it... perhaps it would've been a better idea to have just smacked him like a normal girl would have; then again, Sakura wasn't a normal girl nor would she ever be...

Preparing her too sweet to be true smile (as well as closing her eyes to give off the innocent act) although making sure it looked even scarier than usual, Sakura turned so that she was now facing the boy and answered in such a voice that even his friend, the usually stoic man who wasn't affected by anything would feel a shiver crawling up his spine.

"I'm sorry, but I was just SO preoccupied with trying to figure out why an old man was STILL coming to school that I didn't hear your question. So please, be my guest and repeat what you just said to me" By the end of her sentence, Sakura opened her eyes and flashed her menacing emerald orbs in his direction and spoke this time in such a cold and dark whisper that the room began to cool rapidly.

"I. dare. you"

* * *

Hidan was the type of guy who wouldn't take shit from anyone, even if said person was his leader and was the most powerful person he knew. But, this girl... there was something off about her and by the way she spoke, he could tell that he had somehow (A/N - Like he didn't know what he did! :P) rightfully pissed her off. If that was a good thing or a bad thing, probably the latter, he didn't care to think further about. However when she spoke, barely above a whisper, her voice cold and even darker than Kakuzu's when the man doesn't get his money, he couldn't help the small shiver crawl up his spine

"I. dare. you"

Although he had an inkling of a feeling at the back of his mind that kept on telling him that he shouldn't carry this on any further than he already had, that's all it was... and the more thrill loving side of him kept chanting the same thing over and over '_Do it... Do it... Do it..._' As crazy as that may sound...

A wide arrogant smirk graced his attractive features as he twisted around slightly in his seat to get a better view of the girl and placed one of his hands on her skirt covered thigh, perhaps a bit to high for the pinkette's liking... though she didn't like him touching her at all in the first place. Who knows where his hands had been before he came into the room. The pinkette shivered internally at the mere thoughts that intruded her mind without permission

"Alright **b*tch**. I said "who the f*ck are you?" 'cause I haven't seen you around this f*cking school before and trust me when I say this... I know almost every skanky **b*tch **in this hell hole" Hidan grinned at the dark look that possessed Sakura's expression, knowing all too well that it was his fault that she was acting like this and began to feel damn well pleased with himself.

He continued "That's if that tiny brain in that huge forehead of yours can even begin to comprehend what the f*ck I'm on about"

The atmosphere surrounding the room began to deepen as the students, wide-eyed and mouth agape, watched the scene develop before them. Questions fluttering about at the front of their minds: such as "Why is Hidan trying to piss off the newbie?" and "Hidan's gonna kill her!" - which was mostly coming from the girls that were scared out of their minds'.

The boy sitting to the right of Hidan sighed and gave a small shake of his head as he, just like his fellow classmates, sat there and watched what was going on - not even bothered enough to try and stop the argument that was about to escalate. Hell, even Orochimaru was just sitting back at his desk, feet propped up on said desk lazily as he patted his python Manda, the scene very much to his liking. On many occasions would Hidan end up having fights in his class and because of this, Orochimaru had grown accustomed to merely watching things play out. However, his eye did twitch slightly as he fought back the urge to go and help out his new favourite female student; nevertheless, it would also be an interesting turn of events to see what she would actually do to keep Hidan away from her.

* * *

Sakura's quite and calm demeanor didn't seem to change much, except for the small downwards turn of her lips and the killer aura that surrounded her small form, but on the inside... well, she was going on a complete rampage. '_He did not just call my forehead "huge" on top of calling me a "__**b*tch**__" 4 times!_'

Now, Sakura could kind of handle being called butt-ugly, only just handle being called 'that' but when someone calls her forehead huge on top of insinuating that she'd an idiot... well, let's just hope that whoever had done these things is far away across the city by the time Sakura finds him/her. Hidan, however, wasn't as lucky as he was sitting right next to the girl he had just insulted many time as well as is still touching inappropriately.

_'My forehead isn't huge... it used to be, but I've grown into it since then!'_

Stealthily taking out a mechanical pencil from her bag that was hanging down on the other side of her desk, Sakura grabbed it with such force that it could have broken then and there in her clutches. However, she held back the small bit of strength that would have been needed in order to crush it and, at an unearthly speed, shot it down at the momentum of a bullet and straight into the flesh of Hidan's hand that was still placed on her upper thigh; it had seemingly moved since he first placed it there.

"Argh!"

* * *

Hidan's 'friend' Kakuzu's head snapped around the silver-haired boy's body so that he could see just what had happened to cause said boy to yelp so uncharacteristically, only to stare with slightly widened eyes at what the pink-haired girl had done.

'_She... stabbed him with a mechanical pencil?_' He asked himself, bewildered by her action. Sure, Hidan had been punched before, perhaps slapped once or twice by the very courageous girls that he'd cheated on (though they'd ended up getting punched back twice as hard as Hidan didn't have a problem with hurting females) but never did a girl dare to stab him for a simple name-calling, even if it was with a mere pencil.

The weirdly coloured eyed man watched as Hidan wretched his hand away from the pinkette's thigh and grasped it tightly in that of his other, quickly taking hold of the mechanical pencil and tugged it out roughly before throwing it to the ground in anger; the pencil smashed to pieces on impact. Many gasps echoed around the room at the suddenness of what the silver-haired boy had done; not only that, but also at what Sakura had done. No one was stupid enough to dare to hurt Hidan - not when they knew who he was and just what gang he was in...

* * *

Hidan watched in rage as the familiar red liquid began its way down towards his wrist where it fell in small drops to the floor. Although it didn't look it, the pinkette had stabbed the pencil in harder than you could expect, right down to the bone. Sure, he wouldn't need any urgent medical help, but damn... it hurt like a **b*tch**.

The silver-haired man turned his sharp gaze towards a now smirking Sakura as she sat happily in at her desk, eyes twinkling in amusement at what she had just done. Not only had it been fun to hear the girl-like yelp escape his mouth as she stabbed him, but it had also been amusing to watch his reaction: His eyes clouding with unmasked anger, his fists clenching (even through the throbbing pain of his new flesh wound) and the animalistic snarl that was once an arrogant smirk.

Tapping her foot against the floor, Sakura opened her mouth to speak, this time with a calm and soothing, yet still threatening tone

"Well, if you wanted to know my name then you could have just asked normally instead of insulting me. Then, none of this would have happened, would it old man?" Before Hidan could even open his mouth to retort, the pinkette held up a hand to stop him from doing so, so that she herself could continue. "Now, how about you ask me again, but this time without the name calling. Ne?"

"F*ck you b-" Just as he was about to finish his rude comment, Sakura stomped her heel down heavily onto the silver-haired boy's foot.

"Owch!"

Raising an eyebrow, she leaned forward on her desk and tapped her index finger constantly on the wooden material of the desk she was sitting at. "What did I just tell you old man?"

Hidan growled deeply in his throat, but tried his best to hold back what he was going to say. Although he really wanted, and probably could, punch her in the face right now, he felt as though her actions from his atrocious attitude so far was enough for him. He didn't want, nor need another stab or stomp; maybe next time it would be a kick to his crotch - now that was a thought he paled instantly at.

"Who th- are you?" Luckily, he'd caught himself in time as by the look the mysterious pinkette was giving her, if he had spoken even one more cuss word... he'd be a goner. How is it that one mere little girl could bother him so much? Could stop him from cursing with just a sharp look with those rare shade of emerald-green eyes.

He stopped mid-thought and stared down at the pink-haired girl in front of him as she gave him a smile - not an evil one like the previous two she'd given him as she was threatening. No, it was a true, genuine smile and oh god did he like it. He was so consumed in watching her as she sat there: her legs crossed, one over the other, her form leaning over the desk making it much more easier for him to see down the top of her white button-up blouse and those exotic pink locks falling down her forehead (which he had to admit wasn't that big now that he thought about it) that he almost missed her self introduction. Oh god help him if he did. The girl would kill him. He could see it now; his body hanging down the side of the school building, a rope that was attached from his neck to that of the railings of the school roof. What a... lovely, yet horrible way to die. (His is a masochist after all...)

"Haruno Sakura, Yoroshiku. And may I have the pleasure of knowing your name as well?"

Hidan didn't answer straight away, thoughts centered on what the pinkette had already told him _'Sakura huh? Did her parents have no sence in names?'_ However, he decided that it would be best to keep that part of his thoughts to himelf; he knew just how scary girls could get when someone insulted their parents. The silver-haired boy cringed at the mere thought of what had happened to him when he called Konan's mum a... _'Scary...'_

Nevertheless, he left those thoughts at the back of his mind and decided to just respond to her introduction as he didn't want a repeat of the incident that had just previously occurred. He shivered inwardly (in slight pleasure, might I add) at the mere image appearing inside his mind.

"The names Hidan b-" He quickly stopped himself, once again, and cursed for being in such a habit of cussing every time he speaks. Noticing that the girl had actually managed to get him to stop swearing every time he spoke, Hidan began to freak out and Hidan never freaks out over nothing (A/N - What a lie!)

"Listen up! This time you may have got the f*cking best of me, but just you wait. There won't be a next time" The silver-haired boy, spoke with pure arrogance and such confidence that he would get the best of her next time as he pointed a thumb towards his puffed out chest.

Although Hidan was awaiting the moment the pain would come, it surprisingly never did and Sakura just stared up at him with a wide smirk.

"Sure thing Hidan~ i'll just have to remember to bring a pair of scissors with me to school for the rest of the year. That way, I won't have to waste my precious pencils. Be ready for it" Winking at the end, the pinkette shifted her gaze away from the cause of the lessons distraction and over to the Kakuzu - he who had simply been watching in mild, ok.. perhaps a bit more than just mild, interest and amusement as the scenes played out.

"And you?"

Kakuzu's lip curled up at the edge (although it was only slightly Hidan had still managed to catch it) and he finally spoke; to Sakura, his voice was the kind that could be used for a documentary, or a radio. It was just that deep and raspy, but not the horrid kind. No. It was the nice kind that could lull a girl with sleeping problems into a dreamless state.

"Kakuzu"

As Hidan finally sat down at his desk - between Sakura and Kakuzu - Orochimaru had eventually decided to continue on with his lesson which had so rudely been interrupted by the two punk-like boys that had stomped into the room. Of course, Sakura was also at fault for the disruption, but he'd decided to let her off as she had given him quite the show. The pinkette had surprised not only the class, but also himself when she'd dug her mechanical pencil deep inside the flesh, right up until the bone, of the silver-haired delinquent. Even more so when she'd gotten him to stop swearing and then managing to elicit his name; never before would Hidan, Kakuzu at that (even more shocking as he was never interested in anything other than **his **money), bother to introduce themselves... It surely had been an interesting lesson.

Too bad they'd taken up almost the rest of said lesson while having their petty argument... the snake-like man had been excited as today had been the day he'd start the class on chemical reactions... one of the most fun part of his job; well, that was except for Biology - he loved dissecting...

Soon enough, exactly five minutes later to be exact, the bell for lunch had rung and the classroom begun to empty of it's students. Hidan and Kakuzu had been one of the first to leave (Yelling their loud goodbyes - Hidan - at Sakura just as they got to the sliding door), while on the other hand, Sakura was practically last. She was the only student that had bothered saying goodbye to their sensei - in this case Orochimaru - and was slightly appalled of the fact, although she could also understand their reasons. The snake-like man was a rather weird teacher to have. Nevertheless, that never stopped Sakura from being kind before and wouldn't anytime soon.

* * *

Stepping inside the lunch room, Sakura almost let her jaw fall to the floor from the shock of how amazing the room was. It wasn't like any of the others lunch rooms from her old schools. No. She nodded her head in understanding as she remembered what Kiba had informed her the day before.

**"I heard she came from a well off family, plus she used to gamble and from what you can see here, she was good"**

The pinkette quickly scanned over the room, trying to find either Hinata, Temari, Naruto or any of the others so that she could join them in their meals. Sakura did so as she walked and as she came around the right side of the room, she spotted a head full of blond spiky hair shaking as the owner of said head of hair - a boy - ate at an alarming rate.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura skipped over to the table and pulled out the open seat from between Naruto and Sasuke, flopping down in exhaustion as the others grew quiet. They all watched the pinkette as she ran a hand through her hair, before opening her closed eyes (when did that happen?) and smiling devilishly. Her hair seemed to whip around her head as she sat up in a rush and grabbed Naruto's double chocolate muffin; the blond idiots cries in protest and flailing arms meaning nothing to her as she began her decent of chocolate goodness.

Temari raised a fine eyebrow at Sakura's actions, but the seriousness left her as the pinkette threw the muffin wrapper at the blonds forehead, somehow managing to stick itself there. She joined the rest of the table in fits of laughter as they observed Naruto in his mission to get the horrendous thing away from him... although nothing seemed to be working as the somewhat sticky wrapped stayed stuck in place, resting happily above his baby blue eyes.

"Sakura-chan!" He whined out as his arms lay limp on the table, on either side of his tray of food, fatigued. "Why're you so mean to me!"

Shikamaru, who had been one of the only ones that had stayed silent since Sakura got there from her lesson, decided it was time to break the laughter and ask something that was directed specifically at the pink-haired girl.

"You seem riled up about something Sakura-san. Something happen in Chemistry with Orochimaru" That single sentence got everyone to stop what they were doing and listen. Almost everyone hated the snake-like man, even Sasuke, the seemingly fearless Uchiha was slightly intimidated by him. He would never admit it, but the man's eyes would just send shivers up and down his spine every time those of his own met with them.

Smirking widely, too widely to be exact, Sakura leaned back in her seat with her hands folder behind her head. She licked at her suddenly dry lips and made eye contact with everyone, before stopping on Temari alone. The flicker of mischief going through the pinkette emerald eyes not going unnoticed by everyone else sitting there, waiting for Sakura to explain just what she had done. Naruto was probably the most nervous of them all.

_'What if Sakura-chan had gotten herself into trouble? What if-'_ His mind was cut off by the person in the center of his thoughts as she finally spoke, her voice holding amusement and excitement in one.

"You'll never guess what I just did"

...


	9. Chapter 8 - The Akatsuki Who?

**SaphiraEragon and OrganizationkhII - Thank you for the advice on my** **dialogue. I kind of knew that I had to start a new line when someone spoke, but didn't really think it would look good. However, after trying it and getting great reviews, I know that it's better this way and make's it less confusing. Your opinion's really helped XD **

**Thanks to everyone else who's been reviewing as well! Hearing that my stories good (so far) makes me want to write more :)**

Chapter 8 - The Akatsuki... Who?

Recap

Smirking widely, too widely to be exact, Sakura leaned back in her seat with her hands folder behind her head. She licked at her suddenly dry lips and made eye contact with everyone, before stopping on Temari alone. The flicker of mischief going through the pinkette emerald eyes not going unnoticed by everyone else sitting there, waiting for Sakura to explain just what she had done. Naruto was probably the most nervous of them all.

_'What if Sakura-chan had gotten herself into trouble? What if-'_ His mind was cut off by the person in the center of his thoughts as she finally spoke, her voice holding amusement and excitement in one.

"You'll never guess what I just did"

...

* * *

"You did what!?"

Every other student inside the lunch room stopped what they were doing and immediately turned towards the source of the noise - in this case, it was Naruto, Temari and Ino. Although the whole table was listening in on what Sakura had done, no one was idiotic enough to catch the attention of everyone in the lunch room... except for the loudmouths of the group.

Sakura had just finished telling her story of what happened between her and Hidan in chemistry, when the three had hollered out their responses, shocked and surprised looks honing their expressions. She didn't really understand why they were that surprised. I mean really, they should know by now that the pinkette was the type of girls that attracts attention (mostly in a bad way) almost everywhere she goes. She shook her head at them and gave them a look that blatantly said _'shut up_!'

Finally, after a few more moments of mouths agape and eyes wide open in horror, Sakura and her friends continued on with their previously interrupted conversation. Although this time, in a much quieter tone; They wouldn't want anyone listening in and getting themselves in the middle of the whole school's attention now would they.

"Sakura-chan, please tell me that this is all just a practical joke you're pulling on us. Tell us you didn't order Hidan of the Akatsuki to stop swearing and deny us the fact that you..." Temari slowed down at the point and smacked the palm of her hand onto her forehead, a frustrated sigh leaving her lips. "stabbed him with a mechanical pencil..." an awkward silence passed through the group like a hurricane; they all craned their necks in the pinkette's direction as she scratched at the back of her head, a nervous laugh echoing through their speechlessness.

Questions passed through their minds, the most common one being: "Is she an idiot?" 'Cause that's definitely what it looks like from the story that she had just told.

Temari couldn't help but want to smack her head against the lunch table due to the idioticness of her new roommate and friend. _'Who in their right mind would mess with Hidan when they know he's an Akat-'_ She gasped audibly, catching everyone's attention and looked at the pinkette across from her in understanding.

"Sakura..."

"Huh? What?"

All stopped to stare at the sandy blond-haired girl as she spoke in such a serious tone that she barely ever spoke on "You don't know who the Akatsuki are, do you?"

Sakura didn't answer for a moment, but she did give a curt shake of her head "Yeh, I've been wondering for a while now. You guys keep telling me "the Akatsuki are bad" and "you're an idiot for pissing off an Akatsuki member" but I have no idea who or what your on about"

Shikamaru, one of the smartest member of the group, groaned. He was the most intelligent one here when being able to figure things out and he didn't even take in the fact that Sakura had just moved to Konoha so there was no way she could have heard of the schools, even the whole cities, most fearsome gang - the Akatsuki.

Sakura, who was just sitting there, clueless about the situation she put herself in, tapped Sasuke's shoulder. The reason why she didn't tap Naruto's shoulder was because 1) he was a clueless idiot (though she still loved him, no matter what) and 2) because he would just go all over the top like he does with everything when the situation includes her. Also because she was sure that he would answer her since everyone else at the table was looking at Temari and arguing with each other about what they should be doing about the situation.

As soon as Sasuke turned around to face the pinkette, he raised an eyebrow as if asking '_what do you want?'_ but in a more polite way.

"Who are the Akatsuki?" The raven haired boy sighed audibly and took out an earphone, an earphone that Sakura didn't know he had in, before answering the question.

"The Akatsuki are a 'fearsome' gang that had taken over the school in their first year. They normally don't do anything to harm the other students but if someone starts something with them, they won't bother holding back. Even though they are a gang of only 10 members, they're feared throughout Konoha. You can tell who they are by the red clouds they have on some of their clothing" He stopped to let Sakura take the information he had given so far in and, as soon as she gave a strict nod, he continued.

"Hidan, the one you 'stabbed' and argued with in Chemistry is one of these members; one of the most feared due to his aggressive attitude and bad habit of swearing every time he speaks. You see the weird symbol hanging from the chain around his neck?"

"Yeh, it was a circle with an upside down triangle inside" Sasuke gave a short nod and took out a notepad and a pan; drawing exactly what Sakura had spoken of - a circle and a triangle.

"This is the 'religion' Hidan believes in. I dont know exactly what it is that he does, but I've heard that he's killed people 'cause his god 'orders' him to" Sakura rose an eyebrow before turning to Temari, who had already stopped arguing with the others and had began to listen in. Said girl nodded her head in confrontation.

"He's right. And because of his influence in the Akatsuki, they somehow cover the deaths up. But, I don't know if this is just the rumors of if he actually does kill people. In my opinion, it's just a hoax to get people more afraid of them then they already are" Ino and Hinata each gave a nod in agreement from their spots on either side of the tough sandy blond-haired girl.

Sakura pondered on the fact that she had actually done something so foolish to an Akatsuki member for a moment before coming to the conclusion of '_Oh well'_ She didn't really care whether Hidan was in a bad-ass gang or not; she wasn't just going to let the silver-haired boy get away with calling her a b*tch and insulting her multiples of times - especially calling her forehead 'huge'

From the others at the table's point of view, they could see a dark aura surround the pinkette as her head hung and her hair covered her eyes, leaving only an ominous shadow. As though they could hear her voice as she thought it, the group shivered uncontrollably, shivers crawling up and down their spine and they all slowly began inching away from her in slight fear that they would end up getting hurt.

'_No one calls my forehead huge!'_

Snapping out of her slightly (Ok... very) scary thoughts of how she might end up killing a certain someone (*cough*Hidan*cough*) due to someone tapping on her shoulder, Sakura turned her neck to the left only to come face to face with baby blue eyes and a whiskered face. squeaking out her surprise, the pinkette brought her hand up to her chest - where her heart lay - and slowly backed up; she accidentally ended up knocking into Sasuke's shoulder in the mean time, but didn't take any notice to it as she thought that the raven-haired boy wouldn't care. What she didn't see, which Temari did see, was the slight tense in the boy's body and the thick swallow of his throat.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" The blond boy grinned widely at his childhood best friend and crush and took a hold of her hand very tightly in those of his own. "Don't worry Sakura-chan. I'll protect you if those Akatsuki guys try and get back at you"

The pinkette stared intently at her blond childhood friend before her gaze softened and a small, yet gently smile crawled onto her face "...Thanks Naruto-kun, but you don't have to worry at all because I can very much take care of myself. Also, I'm pretty sure that they won't do anything too rash, if they do anything at all" Giving the boy a pointed look when he was about to say something against her jurisdiction, Sakura smiled sweetly before standing up to leave.

It seems that her story, as well as talking about the Akatsuki had taken up longer than the pinkette had expected; and she had only eaten one chocolate muffin.

'_Oh well... what's done is done'_

"Well, I'm gonna go. If I leave now and get lost then I won't be too late" Temari gave a nod and a wink as she, as well as Ino and Hinata stood up to go to their lessons as well. "That's good. I'll see you in Gym" Just before she and the other girls turned away, Hinata stopped and stuttered out something that could help the pinkette. Although, something that could probably only give the girl a small but of comfort. "U-Urmm... M-My cousin should have t-the same next l-lesson as you. He's called N-Neji and I just thought t-that if you see him you could get to k-know each other so you d-don't feel too lonely..."

Giving the shy girl a heartful thank you smile, Sakura waved goodbye to the guys (Naruto wining after her, begging her to stay longer so that they could catch up and talk) and began her way to her next lesson - Physics in room 54 with Kabuto Yakushi. However, before she could even get 10 meters away from the table, a familiar red-head blocked her path.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the girl before her and gave an innocent look as she tilted her head to the right in 'confusion'.

"Urm.. who are you and why are you blocking my path?"

Now, Sakura wasn't usually the type to just start up an argument or a fight; she was normally the one who would await the moment the fight came to her. But, with the red-haired, hot-headed, glasses wearing girl, Sakura just couldn't help herself. She wanted to start something that would put Karin in her place once and for all. Sure, the pinkette didn't know the girl for long. Hell, she didn't know the girl at all. However, that didn't mean Sakura didn't know her type and she didn't like said type one bit. In the past, our pinkette would try to stay away from the girl's who were Karin's type. Nevertheless, it never helped; they would keep coming back for more pain and humiliation - which was something that Sakura definitely wouldn't mind giving.

Karin seethed in anger, which Sakura smirked evilly at (Inwardly of course. She wouldn't want to blow her innocent cover) and a large red vein began it's journey of popping from the left side of her neck.

"What the hell you **b*tch**! Stop messing around! You knocked into me yesterday night and now I've come to repay the favour. You should know that i'm not someone you can mess with" Although then and there the pinkette would have loved to smash the red-heads face in, she kept her mask on and merely blinked in fake confusion.

"I'm sorry but I really don't remember 'knocking into you'. Perhaps you have the wrong girl and if so, then you should get your ass out of my way before I make you" Sakura's voice changed, as well as her expression, by the end of her short speech; her tone becoming much colder and her eyes narrowing into dark and angry slits. She had quickly checked the time on her phone and had noticed that there was only 5 minutes before the bell for next lesson went - this is what caused her attitude to change. She did not, did NOT, want to be late for advanced physics - one of her most favourite science lessons of all.

Almost speechless, It took a moment for Karin to reply. However, before she was even finished with the first word, Sakura had stomped right up to her, pushed her roughly out the way and made her way out of the rich lunch room; a very shocked Karin standing there, unmoving, mouth agape for all the flies in the world. That's if... any of the flies likes Karin's type, which Sakura doubted.

Unbeknownst to the pinkette, or anyone else in the lunch room for that matter, a few certain people had observed everything the girl had done...

* * *

Physics lesson, in Sakura's opinion, had also gone by rather fast. However, the teacher was more creepy than Orochimaru and he didn't even carry around weird reptiles everywhere he went.

Kabuto Yakushi was probably the youngest teacher in the whole school with dark silver hair that he kept up in a ponytail and dark grey, almost black eyes that he kept behind a pair of circular glasses. His clothes consisted of the usual smart black trousers and white button up men's shirt; however, he wore a long lab coat over the top for some weird reason that Sakura couldn't figure out - you normally don't need lab coats in anything other than Chemistry and biology. Perhaps he just liked the long white protective material?

Anyway... Just like Hinata had informed her, Neji Hyuuga was a member of her advanced class and had taken up a seat at the back where the boy was sure he wouldn't be disturbed. The boy had long chocolate-brown hair that was tied into a low ponytail from the base of his neck and he had the same lavender pupilless eyes that the shy girl - Hinata - had. His clothing consisted of the usual school clothes, which he wore smarter than Naruto and Sasuke both put together. However, he did have his tie left hanging slightly lower than school regulations allowed.

The air surrounding the brown-haired Hyuuga was one of pure confidence and arrogance, which explained why Hinata had that more than usual nervous look in her eyes when she was talking about the boy.

It looked like, to Sakura, that the boy wasn't sure what to do, when the pinkette had taken up the spare seat right beside him other than to ignore her, so said pink-haired girl had forced it upon herself to start up a conversation and introduced herself as a friend of Hinata.

This had managed to gain the boy's attention, although not for very long as after introducing himself as Neji Hyuuga, he'd 'politely' asked Sakura to stop talking to him and to instead focus more on the lesson so that they both could achieve their best grades. At this, the pinkette's eye had twitched and she had stealthily stomped on his foot without anyone else seeing; although she'd receaved a rather harsh look from the Hyuuga boy in return.

Other than that, the lesson had gone surprisngly well... except for the part when Kabuto had walked up to Sakura as soon as she was about to leave and greeted her to the school much to kindly than she could have wanted. Even though she wanted the teacher and students alike to like her and get along with her, Sakura didn't quite get that feeling with her physics teacher; he would always have this glint in his eyes every time the two made eye contact - the circular glasses had made that gleam even brighter. She shivered at the mere thought of having him as her teacher for the rest of the... year. 'Greaaat!'

* * *

As the pinkette strolled into her maths class, her thoughts were so focused on her creepy Physics teacher that she didn't take any notice to the other students that she would be sharing her lesson from now on with; the students, however, took great notice of her and studied her closely as she took the free seat at the back of the class, right by the window.

This was something Sakura did take note of; in every advanced class she's been in so far, the spare seat was always in the back by the window, or just anywhere in the back row. She couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with the seats in the back of the class, or if everyone just loved to sit closer to the front... closer to the teacher.

_'Why would they want to do that?_' She pondered on the thought for a while five minutes until she decided to stop as she couldn't come up with a fundamental conclusion.

Snapping out of her thoughts as a hand slammed down harshly onto her desk, Sakura twisted her neck around to face what had disrupted her peaceful moment, only to stare in a mixture of awe and surprise. The rather familiar man standing before her was... blue.

It all seemed to click as Sakura's mouth opened to speak, however she was interrupted as the blue guy got to it before her.

"Well, well, well little kitten. Didn't think we'd be seeing each other so soon"

* * *

Kisame hadn't felt as happy as he was then, for ages. Not only did he get to see his little kitten again (finally) but he also got to sit next to her for the whole lesson as his seat was right next to where she was sitting. At first, he was surprised to see her walk into his Advanced Math class so far in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed taking a seat right beside him. But then, that surprise turned into glee as he jumped up and tried to get her attention.

Seems as though making a loud noise did just the trick.

A small grin spread across Sakura's face as Kisame's own was reflected, although much wider.

"Didn't want to be seeing you so soon either, Shark-boy. How'd you even get in this class with that fish-sized brain of yours?" Kisame's eyebrows shot up in shock at how she so easily insulted him, right off that bat as well.

Didn't she listen to her friends when they told her that the Akatsuki weren't to be messed with? (Yes, he was listening in at lunch) Though... they never did tell her exactly who was a part of the group, so it's understandable. Nevertheless, if she was observing him as much as he thought she was, then she should have noticed the black hoodie with multiple red clouds. Maybe she wasn't as perceptive as he thought her to be...

A rumble of laughter spread throughout the classroom, startling all the students already there as they turned around to look at the reason for the suddenness of said laughter. Kisame couldn't help but keep on laughing, so much that his insides were beginning to hurt; tears were even beginning to form from the corners of her beady fish-like eyes.

'_Oh, how hilarious this one is!_'

Soon enough, when he had managed to stop, he stared down at Sakura with an equal grin of his own, albeit slightly (much) wider, and gave her a rough pat on the head which rustled her hair and annoyed her to no end. There was one thing that really pissed Sakura off (Other than people insulting her due to her hair colour/height and calling her names like Hidan did earlier) and that was messing up her hair. She had a mild case of OCD and hated it when her hair was messy. Hell, even mess up how she organises her desk (pencils, pens and books) and she'll kick your ass until your far over the ocean.

Keeping his eyes on Sakura always, Kisame moved back to his desk which was right beside that of the pinkettes. Taking a seat, rather slowly, the blue-haired fish-like man gave Sakura a scary, sharp teethed smile (Something about him that Sakura hadn't noticed before - how sharp his teeth were) and began slowly.

"You keep surprising me, little kitten" It was true, never has anyone before been so straightforward in insulting the blue man before; he couldn't help but kind of like it.

"No one has ever insulted me before when knowing just what gang I'm in" The pinkette tilted her head to the left in confusion and raised an eyebrow; Kisame found this a rather cute gesture but shook off the unnecessary thoughts quickly so that he could continue what he began.

"Have you heard of the Akatsuki, little kitten?" Sakura gave a nod instantly, not being able to forget what her friends had spoken to her about - the Akatsuki - as it was just during lunch that they had told her; they were quite detailed about it as well.

"Well, I'm a part of that gang and people don't normally insult me like that 'cause..." A malicious grin spread across his, rather attractive features for a fish-man. "There are things that I can do that no one will ever find out about..." He decided to leave it like that - let her imagination do the rest for him.

However, even though he was sure that he would have scared her off by now, it didn't seem to work.

With an _'I told you so'_ look in her eyes and a wide smirk spread across her lips, Sakura spoke - her voice calm yet playful and mischievous in one; she somehow made it work.

"So? Do you honestly think your going to scare me away with that? Who cares if your in a gang, certainly not me. Besides, I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself" With a wink, Sakura turned away from a gobsmacked Kisame and settled on focusing her attention on the whiteboard at the front of the room. She only hoped that the teacher - Sarutobi Asuma - would arrive shortly so that she wouldn't have to deal with any more 'Akatsuki' members'

Kisame, finally over his shock of what the pinkette had said to him, turned around to face the other person sitting in the seat to his right and grinned. In anything below a whisper, an even larger grin inching onto his face (though it must hurt to grin so widely), he spoke to the raven haired boy with equally matching raven coloured eyes that seemed to just suck you in like an abyss at the bottom of the ocean.

"Told you the kitten's interesting"

His friend merely 'hn'd' and looked back towards the board at the front of the class; although it didn't look it, his mind was more focused on the conversation he'd shared with his dear brother last night in the dark corners of the underground bar...


	10. Chapter 9 - A Challenge Worthwhile

Chapter 9

He walked through the empty school hallways with his head held high, a stride of pure confidence and arrogance. His grey eyes narrowed on the ground he strode atop and his dark orange hair swishing along every time he took another step.

Normally, if he were to do this, every single student he'd pass by would move out of his way; the girls would gush at the mere sight of his god-like appearance and the guys would give his narrowed eyed glares full of jealousy. Of course, he himself could understand why they would act that way - he was, after all, one of the most attractive (If not the most attractive other than the Uchiha's) guys in the school, maybe in even the whole city; not that he was that vain to admit this out loud.

The reason for him being the only student inside the corridors at the moment was because everyone else was in class - supposed to, anyway. However, since his lesson (english) was one of the most boring of all and his teacher - Mitarashi Anko - was a sadistic freak, he decided to skip; it wasn't like he'd ever need english for his future occupation. Now that he thoughts about it, he still didn't know what he was going to do for his future job. He was already in his senior year in high school as well... he had to decided at some point.

A sigh passed his lips as the *ding* of the bell signalling the end of lessons rang throughout the school. The students would soon be filling out of their classes and rushing through the hallways as if it was rush hour; a horde of stampeding rhinos trying to got to their last lesson of the day before they're finally set free - at home where they can relax for the next 6 or so hours before bed until the next morning where they have to start school all over again.

As soon as those thoughts left his mind, like he predicted, dozens of males and females began speeding past him; though they tended to stay at least out of the god-like man's way as they all knew what would happen to anyone that dared bumping into him or even coming too close within his personal bubble.

Slowly, as he continued to walk, he was so concentrated on his wandering thoughts that he didn't notice the person right in front of him. A grunt had snapped him out of his daze-like state and he stared down impassively at the person sprawled out on the floor, their belongings spread out around them. Why he didn't fall over as well? That's easy to explain: He's just good at keeping his balance.

An uncomfortable silence past throughout the length of the hallway as every single student who was rushing towards their next lesson stopped to see what he would do to the 'peasant' (as he would call others that were bellow him) that bumped into him. However, that silence soon ended as whispers erupted quietly and surrounded him, not letting the god-like man keep to his thoughts and further. Things that were said: "Poor girl, she's only been here for one day as well" and "We should go unless we want to get caught up in it as well"

The girl that he'd bumped into didn't even bother looking up as she apologised frequently and began sweeping up the contents that had flooded from her school bag. How could she be so stupid in knocking into someone when she was late? All she wanted was to get away from the fish-man before he could get away from his desk and follow her out into the hallway (why did these Akatsuki members keep bothering her anyway?). She could see him from the corners of her eyes, throughout the class, staring at her with a wider than average grin.

The orange-haired man watched as she continued ignoring him, not taking any notice of the fact that he wasn't helping her collect her things - it was kind of his fault as well that she fell to the ground, though.

As soon as she'd started, she quickly finished and stood up; still not looking the person she knocked into in the eye, she bowed low at the waist and apologised one and last time before running off. There was only one thing going on through her mind at that moment, and it wasn't anything to do with the person in front of her.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm in a hurry!" And with a flash of silvery pink bubblegum hair, the girl disappeared into surrounding crowd, leaving a slightly stunned godlike being behind as well as gobsmacked witnesses.

The orange-haired man stared after the slightly familiar girl and after a few seconds, it clicked! She was the girl he saw that day he was idly leaning against a tree; he remembered the spunk and mischief clear in her eyes as well as the pure confidence in her elegant strides as she made her way towards the girl's dorm house.

Then he recalled the moment Kisame came up to him and the others in the bar and started prattling about a feisty pink-haired kitten that had outright insulted him without battling an eyelash in fear. The fish-like man was so excited and couldn't stop repeating how "amazing" it would be if he could meet her again. Before they could ask anything more about the girl he'd met, however, Kisame had already ran off to do something Kisame-like.

A smirk graced his attractive features as he turned around, amused to some extent. And he didn't let that smirk leave even as he heard the rumors start to spread from around him; he could understand why as well. He would never let just anyone off for touching him like that (even if it was an innocent bump) nor would he outright smirk in public. Hell, he would barely ever show emotions at all; even in front of his dear half-sister - Konan.

Speaking of, said senior was speed-walking his way right that moment and she didn't look happy. The only thing he could plead before she was right up in his face was with an angry expression plastered all over that of her own, was:

_'Please, not in public'_

* * *

She ran through the overcrowded hall, bumping into a student here and there as they hollered after her as she ignored them in her concentration of getting to one of her favourite lessons - P.E

_'It's all that oversized fish's fault!'_the pinkette screamed inside her mind, her outward demeanor no longer giving off the calm and gentle aura she normally would. Sakura was a good student, even though she was a kind of punk girl attitude. In all of her life, she had only once been late for a lesson and that was for a very good reason - also, said lesson was one of the ones she hated the most.

'_Just this once! If there's anyone up there, please let me have some luck and make sure that I have no Akatsuki members in one of my favourite classes'_Sakura pleaded as she stared up at the ceiling, not minding that she was not watching where she was going; she was quite confident that she wouldn't run into anyone... though said thing did just previously occur because she wasn't watching where she was going.

Shrugging off her thoughts, Sakura stopped running as she finally appeared in front of the gym doors where she was supposed to meet with Temari. It was probably going to be a while before said blond-haired girl arrived, however, so Sakura decided it would be ok to confine herself to her thoughts - which were about none other than Kisame and Hidan.

Short moments passed by as many female and male students alike went to get changed for Gym class and finally, after what felt like hours of waiting, Temari could be seen running towards the pinkette from the distance.

"Sakura!" The sandy blond-haired girl called out, a wide smirk gracing her boyishly pretty features as she slowed to a stop and leaned her hands on her knees as she paused to catch her breath."Sorry I'm late, got to stay behind 'cause I didn't do my homework. You didn't have to wait for me though" She gave her pink-haired friend a thankful smile before leading them both inside the Gym and towards the back where the girl's and boy's changing rooms were situated.

"It's fine. Besides, who else would show me where I had to go to get changed?" The two shared a chuckle and as they walked into the far corner of the changing room, passing by many half-naked girls on their way; the two cringed and turned away at the sight of the too skinny to be pretty girls. Now, they themselves were pretty thin (Well, Sakura was - Temari was filled with muscles) but not the "Vomit your guts out" thin like Karin and her gang of female followers that Sakura hadn't yet had the pleasure to meet. Note the sarcasm.

As the two girls made it to their lockers, they noticed Hinata already half way through getting changed and gave a wave and a nod each.

"Hey Hinata-chan" Sakura greeted, a kind smile clear on her features as she shifted her gaze over to the locker before her; she didn't take much notice to the fact that the shy girl had just muttered out her shy reply.

Although Sakura knew that the school was loaded due to the head master - Tsunade - investing so much, she didn't think they'd be so ready for her arrival that they'd already loaded up her locker and given her the correct clothes for P.E.

Pulling the locker open, the pinkette took a wary glance inside, only to almost jump out of her skin as a hand planted itself down on her shoulder. Without even thinking about what she was doing, Sakura took a firm grasp of the mysterious persons hand and swung around along with said person before trapping her arm across her back in a painful looking way.

A gasp escaped her lips and she quickly let go, a sheepish look adorning her elegant features as Temari turned around to face her, a scowl clear on those of her own as she rubbed her left arm fervently.

Sakura let out a nervous chuckle and scratched at the back of her neck as she apologised, full heartedly mind you. It wasn't really her fault that she'd acted that way. For all she would've known, Karin may have been behind her and she certainly didn't mind the thought of giving her a bit of pain that she so rightfully deserved. However, then again Hinata could have just wanted to talk to her and Sakura would have ended up hurting her; this was something she definitely didn't want to happen, even if it were on accident. Hinata was a kind, shy... but very kind and gently girl who deserved nothing less that happiness and the pink-haired girl was sure that if it was her that she'd have hurt, she would have been very upset. She's just lucky that Temari was used to being in pain - she did have Kankuro and Gaara as brothers after all.

"Sorry Temari. Reflex" Noticing the sandy blond-haired girl's temper vanish almost completely, though there was still some anger of being beaten so easily (without even being able to help herself, even with Sakura being smaller and more fragile), the pinkette continued.

"Anyway, do we have to wear such things?"

Sakura took out from her locker a pair of navy blue short shorts that, if put on, she was sure would ride up her thighs so far that everyone would be able to see her ass. The shirt wasn't any better to be honest; it looked as though it was so tight that it would squeeze the life out of her. She shuddered at the mere thought of having to be in front of other people, guys at that, with those slutty piece of material on - she wouldn't even consider them as clothes.

Temari chuckled gruffly (not so weird as she was a boyish girl - if she had short hair and no breasts at all, anyone would think that she was a guy ) at her pink-haired friends horrified expression as she rummaged through her duffel bag that contained her own p.e uniform. Finding what she was looking for, the grabbed a hold of them and threw them swiftly towards the pinkette - landing straight on said girl's still horrified face.

"Well, they are the standard uniform for p.e. But, we girls are permitted to wear similar clothes if were bothered to bring them in. Lucky for you, I had a feeling that you were going to be in the same Gym lesson as me so I brought an extra pair" As Sakura finished assessing the clothes that had been thrown, rather unceremoniously, at her head, she sent a relieved and thankful as hell gaze towards her roommate.

"Thanks Temari, I owe you one" What the pinkette didn't expect, although she should have known from the sandy blond-haired girl's personality, was a wink back as well as a "I know" for a reply. Sakura gulped knowingly, however quickly switched her gaze towards the other side of the room and began getting changed as well. God knows how much time had passed by already and she didn't want to know what would happen if they were late; the other girls were already filling out of the room - Hinata joining them with a shy wave in the direction of her friends. In her old school, Sakura had been made to run around their larger than humanly possible outside field as punishment for being a minute late... a minute! And it was all her fault.

Snapping out of her thoughts as she pulled the white tank top over her head, Sakura adjusted the black sweatpants so that they were sitting more comfortably around her waist and quickly tied up her black trainers white shoelaces before rushing after Temari who was already near the changing room doors.

Stepping out and joining the others as they stood around the Gym teacher, Sakura couldn't help but gape, more than slightly terrified at the man standing before them.

She couldn't believe her eyes!

The man had his black hair cut into that of a bob - as though he had someone place a bowl on the top of his head and cut around the brim of it - and his eyes were round and a dark grey, although they looked beady... like Kisame's, although much bigger. His clothing was actually much weirder than his haircut as they consisted of a tight (Too... Tight!) forest green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers.

Temari snickered at her friends expression and gave a nod in self understanding. She too, when first seeing the Gym teacher - Might Guy - had been so freaked out that she couldn't take her eyes away from him, though that was all she wanted to do. What the blond-haired girl couldn't wait for, however, was the moment that Guy would notice Sakura and do something drastic to welcome her to the school... like he'd always do with the new students. And let me tell you this, what he made them do was nothing like a welcoming at all.

She could remember when Watanabe Ami had first arrived Temari's second year in Konoha high. She could see it clear in her mind, as if it was just yesterday.

Ami had just finished changing clothes, not in any way minding how slutty and skin showing the p.e uniform was, and walked out into the large Gym room when suddenly, she was somehow standing in front of everyone, right beside a man clad in a forest green jumpsuit - the sandy blond-haired girl could practically hear the scream that you could see clear on her face, throughout the edges of her mind.

Guy was so delighted to have a new student that he'd gave her a challenge to welcome her right away.

In Temari's opinion, it wasn't as bad as the ones the clad in green man had given to other new students and Ami had obviously taken it to seriously; It was only a little challenge. All she had to do was climb up a rope and jump to the next one before climbing down. What could have possibly gone wrong... right? Well, because the girl - Ami - had barely any arm strength, she'd ended up falling half way up to thick rope and fell on her ass on the matt, her hands acquiring first degree burns - from said rope she had to climb.

The girl had ended up crying her eyes out and running away in front of the whole class, causing said class to end up bursting into fits of laughter. To be honest, it was a pretty funny sight. However, due to the incident, Karin had ended up getting a right-hand follower. Anyone could see how this would become a problem... right?

Placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder, Temari gave a reassuring smile and spoke in such a soft whisper that you wouldn't think she was amused by the pinkette's situation.

"Don't worry Sakura, it'll only get worse from here on out" Oh... Sakura's expression was priceless; Temari wished she'd brought a camera so that she could remember this moment for the rest of her life, however mean that sounds.

_'It'll only get worse!? How is that being a reassuring friend!'_Frustrated, Sakura let a groan leave her lips. But, that seemed like one of the worst things she could have done because Guy, hearing a signal of distress and thinking that something was wrong, turned her way; a grin even wider than Kisame could muster (and even more terrifying as his teeth glinted along with his eyes) decided to grace the weirdly dressed man's features as he placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, leaving her with no way out of what was about to happen.

"Oh! The youthfulness of today! A new student that I can welcome to our youthful group!" His voice shouted into oblivion and catching everyone else's attention as they shifted their gazes, stopped mid-conversation, towards the pinkette who was trying her best to shrink into such a size where no one would be able to notice her.

Sakura turned towards Temari in a flash and, with the most pleading face she could muster (which was a very pleading face at all as Sakura had never begged for anything in her life), begged with her eyes for the sandy blond-haired girl to help her get out of this mess. Sadly, said blond simply smirked with a 'Sorry, but no can do' look in her eyes and turned away, whistling as if nothing was happening to her roommate right before her eyes.

Screaming mentally, the pinkette finally gave in to defeat and decided to ask what she had to do. She didn't really understand what he'd meant by 'welcome her to the group' but she had this feeling in the back of her mind that was telling her it wasn't going to be a good thing...

* * *

_'Yup... I'm dead'_

Sakura stared up at the high wall that was used for 'rock climbing' with an agitated expression. _'Is he really expecting me to climb this thing?'_ Just to make sure she was really having to do this, the pinkette turned towards her teacher with a raised eyebrow, awaiting the moment banners came down and confetti was thrown all over the place as everyone shouted at the same thing **"April Fools!"**However, it wasn't even april and Sakura could positively see no sign of someone getting ready to throw the familiar stings and pieces of colourful paper.

After a long, although it seemed very short, moment passed by like a flash of lightning striking a random antenna without anyone noticing, Sakura turned back to the wall before her and decided to just get it over and done with. I mean... what could possibly go wrong... right?

_'This better be worth it!'_

Anger flared throughout the pinkette's body and she saw red as she continued her ascent of the roundedly jagged structured wall. It wasn't as difficult as it seemed, to be honest; In her old village, Sakura had once tried rock climbing and she hadn't failed. However, that time she had at least worn a harness so that if she fell, someone would be there to catch her. It seemed that in this school no one cared about the student's health and safety as Guy merely placed a helmet on her head and pushed her forward towards her challenge - she stumbled due to the pressure he added onto her back.

As Sakura was minding her own business, climbing steadily up the wall, seemingly without a care in the world... Hinata moved to where Temari was standing and the two shared a worried glance. Well, Hinata did. Temari was more amused with the situation than anything else really. She knew that whatever welcoming challenge Guy gave her would be at least tougher than the one he'd given Ami in the past. However, that didn't mean she wasn't worried for her new roommate and friend. She thought the 'youthful' man would at least give her a harness so that if she fell, she wouldn't get seriously injured. Hell, their teacher was so idiotic that he didn't even get the matt out so that if she fell (if), she would at least get a soft landing.

"D-Do you think Sakura-san w-will be ok?" The shy blue/purple tinted haired girl asked the tougher, boyishly girl beside her. Hinata was normally worried about other, but this was something she couldn't help but get a bad feeling about. Wouldn't you usually have some safety harnesses on, or at least a mat underneath.

Temari understood the girl's worries, but she knew Sakura would be fine. The pinkette was a strong girl from what she'd seen so far and there was no way Guy would just let one of his new students get hurt like that. He'd had to have a plan for if she fell... _'But why is he testing her like this?'_ That was the main question. Sakura was in the school on an academic scholarship so why was Guy treating her like he would his Sports scholarship students? _'It doesn't make sense...'_

"She'll be fine. You trust Sakua don't you?" After receiving a, rather confident nod from the shy girl - which was quite surprising - Temari smirked, a glint in her eyes that said _'If she gets hurt, I won't be hold accountable for Guy's health afterwards'_

"Then trust in her. Besides, you know just as well as I do that Guy wouldn't let one of his "precious youthful students" get hurt. My guess... he's testing her"

Hinata turned to her blond-haired friend with a questioning look. Sure, she was smart, but she didn't have the analysing techniques that Temari did so she didn't quite get what the girl was going on about. Tilting her head to the right cutely, the shy girl awaited Temari to explain further about what she'd figured out so far.

"Think about it. Why do you reckon every time a new students joins out class, Guy would practically force them to take up a challenge? He wants to see if their ready for the lessons he's going to force onto them. You know how challenging Guy can be; he just wants to know whether the new sports scholars can take what he's going to give them" Hinata, catching onto what Temari had been thinking about, nodded.

"But" The two stopped staring at each other and shifted their gazes towards their pink-haired friends as she was almost to the top of the wall - the most difficult part as the wall would curve out for you to reach the end "Why would he want to test Sakura - someone who's on an academic scholarship?"

Their question was left unanswered as anxiety clenched their stomachs uncomfortably; Sakura had made it to the top of the wall and although she was slightly out of breath, she didn't look like she'd had much of a hard time. Her hands tightly gripped the whole in the top of the wall where you would normally hold onto when you needed a rest - her arms strong and muscles tense, as if she was worried if she'd loosen them, she'd fall.

Everyone knew that it was easier going up that down, so now the question that arose on everyone's mind was "How's she gonna get down without a harness?"

Simple...

She'll jump.

* * *

As Sakura reached the top of her challenge, now only needing to get back down, she decided to rest for a moment and make sure her breathing was back to normal before doing what she was thinking of doing... which was pretty stupid, mind you.

She didn't want, nor did she have the upper arms strength to hold her own as she climbed all the way back down. The wall was at least over 12 meters high and it had taken her approximately 5-10 minutes to climb up - by now her muscles would start to ache, at least. It was an even more difficult task when you climb down so she knew it would take longer; by then her arms would be jelly and she would fall to her inevitable death... no, that was over the top. She wouldn't die from a mere injury like that, maybe a broken leg or something like that, though.

Letting out a sigh, Sakura craned her neck down to the ground to stare at what was happening below her.

Most of the girls were sitting down by the wall, bored, or on their phones texting god knows who. Temari and Hinata were talking to each other about something that Sakura obviously couldn't hear, but the shy girl looked worried about something. _'Aw... is she worried about me?' _The pinkette grinned to herself before moving along and spotting Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji along with another boy she hadn't seen before. Said boys were talking to each other (more like arguing - Kiba and Naruto) in hushed tones and looking up now and then to see how their pink-haired friend had fared in her task.

Moving along, she finally came across a small group of kids that she'd recognise any day - The Akatsuki.

_'And here I thought the heavens would finally bless me with some good luck... Oh well, can't do anything about it but ignore them' _Giving a nod in self agreement, Sakura didn't notice to the rusty-brown eyes that fell upon her small form (she is high up) until the two made eye-contact.

Nothing happened for a while as the two stared at each other, for what seemed like eternity, before finally the boy made a move... he smirked up at her and gave a familiar challenging look.

_'I dare you' _Was what he was saying to her.

Why he was giving her that look? Sakura didn't know, nor did she want to know. However, all she really wanted to do at that exact moment was go down there and wipe that smirk off of his attractive face... in a rather unattractive way. She's punch it off. Sakura wasn't the type of girl who would 'slap' someone. She was more of a 'punch and kick where the sun don't shine' type of girl and oh did she love it when she made a guy unable in performing in bed... that was something that would always make her day.

'_Oh when I get my hands on that cocky bastard!_' She seethed as she snapped back from her thoughts about sadistically torturing guys in the worst possible way before finally letting her hands go at the same time as she twisted her body around and prepared for the slightly over 10 meter drop. She'd dropped from further up before, but that was with a harness, so she didn't know how things were going to turn out.

'_Can't exactly turn back now... I've already let go'  
Twisting her body into the correct position, Sakura made sure that she'd landed further away from anyone so that they wouldn't get caught. _

The moment her toes touched the ground, her knees bent down and she dropped her body into a forward roll so that the extra energy was released and that he legs wouldn't receive the normal shock, or at least most of it wouldn't occur. The pinkette always hated the aftereffects of jumping from a high place; that horrible electric shock feeling that would make anyone fall to the ground. The mere thought of it made her cringe.

All was silent as Sakura dusted imaginary dust off from her black sweatpants. However, the silence ended as the teacher - Guy - jumped on the pinkette in awe and amazement.

"That was amazing! Never have I seen such youthfulness in one of my challenges. I welcome you Haruno Sakura! Now, why don't we celebrate by running around the field 100 times!" Groans of protest could be heard from almost everyone in the group. However, Sakura wasn't bothered as she was more concentrated on the narrowed, cold glare she was giving Sasori who was merely looking at her in mild amusement; as if he'd just found a new toy to play with.

_'No way am I letting this bastard get away with thinking of me like that!'_

* * *

The pure fury and annoyance that was clear on the pinkette's face only made her look more exotic to the wood craftsman - Sasori. The way her silvery pink hair flew around her face with non-existant wind made her seem like a goddess ready for battle; the way her rare shade of emerald-green eyes narrowed into dark slits only added to the wild, sexy look it gave her.

Oh yes... he would have fun with messing with her from now on. He couldn't wait...


	11. Chapter 10 - A Punch for Every Slap

Slamming her changing room locker shut with such force the the hinges almost came right off, Sakura blew out a huff of air and leaned her head against said lock; she was fatigued by the amount of laps that they had all just been forced to do by their p.e teacher - Might Guy.

"When he said he wanted us to do laps to celebrate me completing my challenge, I didn't think he meant 100, literally" Hinata nodded from her locker just 2 doors down, also completely exhausted. She knew something like this was going to happen as Guy was the type of man who was over-enthusiastic about his fitness. However, she also didn't think he'd actually make them do the full 100. The other girls were so tired, their legs like jelly and their breaths coming out in short pants by the second, that they fell to the ground only almost half way done.

_'You would think we'd be used to this by now'_ Temari pondered on the thought as she finished getting changed and turned around to face her friends. Like the others, she was also tired - though not as much as Karin and her followers. She'd say that the only ones who'd have completed the 'celebration' was most of the guys (Choji ended up fainting from hunger) and herself, Sakura, Hinata and Ino.

Although Ino seemed like Karin's type - the type that only thought about boys and their looks - while she did care about her looks and the boys she liked, she also loved to keep fit and it seems that it helped greatly with Guy's lesson's that they had three times a week.

Like academics, the students who were on sports scholarships were made made to have said types of lessons everyday so that they could do it to the best of their abilities. Sakura, being there on an academic scholarship was taking at least 3 of those type of lessons a day and since she personally asked to take Art and Photography and P.E. she was also taking Gym with Guy a few times a week, as well as Art with Kurenai. This didn't bother Sakura as these were her favourite lessons, but sometimes it did become boring.

Pulling out her schedule for the week, Sakura noticed something that she didn't when she'd first checked the piece of paper earlier. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, she would have the same lessons and on Tuesdays and Thursdays she would have the same. The pinkette turned towards Temari to investigate as normally, in her previous schools, her lessons would be the same every single day.

"Temari, why are our schedules layed out this way?"

The sandy blond-haired girl placed her bag on one of her shoulders and as the three girls (Hinata tagging along) walked through the school corridors that were filled with leaving students who want to go home, she explained.

"I didn't understand when I first came here, but I assumed it was because of the amount of Scholars that join the school. They try to set it out so that the scholars in the same years would be able to take the same lessons together, depending on their skill. I don't know what Tsunade thought when she came up with the scheme, but I find it easier this way" With a shrug of her shoulders, she finished and gave Sakura a wicked smirk - said girl rose an eyebrow at her friends amusement for such a bland subject of conversation.

Opening her bag back up to put her schedule back, Sakura suddenly stopped and gave herself a slap to the forehead. Hinata, noticing her friend stop, stopped herself and asked what was wrong. "W-What's wrong Sakrura-chan?"

Sakura sighed and zipped her bag back up before swinging it on her should in an angry huff. She couldn't believe that she'd left her Chemistry notepad back in Orochimaru's classroom. Normally, she would double-check that she had everything before leaving; perhaps the fight with Hidan had sent her mind into a fizzle.

_'Damn Hidan...'_

Heaving a sigh, the pinkette turned around and began her way back to Chemistry so that she could collect what she'd forgotten, calling back in the process towards her friends.

"I've forgotten something, meet you back in the dorm!"

Temari and Hinata stood in the middle of the filled hallways as students passed them by so that they could get back to their dorm houses; they didn't speak for a moment but when some random person hollered out for them to stop blocking up the hall, they gave each other a glance, shrugged and left. They knew that Sakura would follow them soon and that they should probably wait in Temari's room so that they can hang out for a while. What they didn't know was how much trouble their pink-haired friend was going to get herself in while she was away...

* * *

Orochimaru stood up from his seat as he had just finished sorting out the books from the class he just previously had and petted his snake affectionately. Oh how he loved his snakes - they were his life and there's no other animal in the world that could match up to them. Even though most of his students (Actually, pretty much all of them) hated him for being such a 'snake loving freak', he didn't care. He was always hated for being a slightly weird person and so he was used to it. But at least his snakes were still with him; that's all he could ask for. In the process of thinking this, an image of a pink-haired girl appeared at the front of his mind but he quickly shook it off as he knew she was just messing with him, just like at the beginning with all the other students.

As the snake-like man began placing all the left out practical equipment away he remembered that while checking through all the folders and picking up the stay pieces of paper from the desks that the children didn't bother to clean up, he had found a notepad of all the things he'd taught to the juniors earlier that day - just before lunch. It seemed that the person who the notepad belonged to was an academic Scholar as the notes he/she'd taken were extraordinary and thorough; it was even more detailed than his most prized student - Uchiha Itachi. Whoever had left the book behind was definitely going to go far in the future if they're that intelligent and willing to copy down what he would teach them.

From the corners of his eyes, he noticed the door silently slide open and a very familiar pink-haired girl stalking inside with a thoughtful look plastered all over her face. She didn't look like she noticed that Orochimaru was there, so said man moved towards her, a sadistic grin crawled over his lips. He wondered if he could scare her. Oh, how fun that would be...

The second his hand came in contact with the pinkette's shoulder, however, everything went by in a blur.

One moment, Orochimaru was standing beside the girl, his snake hanging loosely around the back of his neck and shoulders and the next he's pushed up against the wall, both arms behind his back in a painful position to keep him from moving. Sakura didn't know what had happened (reflex) but as soon as she noticed that it was her Chemistry teacher she'd just cornered against the classroom walls, she squeaked out her horrified apology and quickly backed away. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice anyone had approached her.

'_This is why you should never think while walking_' She scolded herself over and over mentally.

"I really am sorry Orochimaru-sensei. It was reflex" A nervous chuckled passed her lips as she watched the snake-like man stretch his arm to get the numb feeling away. His face was contorted with pain for a split-second for turning back to its usual snarky-look. Chuckling at the thought of a student, a female one at that, pushing him against the wall and keeping him restrained was funny... in its own way. Still, Orochimaru felt humiliated by said fact and couldn't bring his eyes to meet those of the pinkette's even though she was apologising.

"It's fine" He hissed out in his usual snake-like tone, the 's' drawn out just to prove every other students point that the man himself was a snake. Although he looked and sounded like a snake, Orochimaru was anything but. The man simply loved the slimy reptiles so much as a boy that he'd accustomed himself to their speaking habits.

"What brings you here Sakura-san?"

Sakura gave a short nod and began walking over to where she sat earlier that day. She did this while explaining why she was there.

"Well, I seem to have forgotten my notepad. I was sure I'd brought it out with me but my little spat with Hidan must have caused me to disregard my surroundings. How careless" She muttered out the end to herself, not happy that she had gotten into an argument with the silver-haired boy to begin with. Sakura was supposed to be the calm one. However, as soon as he'd even mentioned the words 'forehead' and 'huge' together... well, she lost it and couldn't keep herself in control.

_'Well... he should have at least learnt his lesson'_

No matter how much she looked, the pinkette couldn't see her notepad anywhere and she was beginning to get agitated. That notepad had all of her notes in from her last school as well as what she'd learnt in Chemistry earlier on - they were precise and could be very useful for future exams; this was why she was pissed off for losing it.

Huffing in frustration, Sakura leaned back on a desk and began to think.

_'Where could I have lost it?'_

It was silent throughout the room before suddenly, Orochimaru walked towards the annoyed pinkette, a black book in his hand and a smile on his face - though the smile looked completely fake.

"Is this yours?" Sakura was startled slightly at the sudden noise, but soon enough turned towards the snake-like man with a 'huh?' look plastered all over her face. She was so stuck in her thoughts about where she could have lost her precious notepad that she didn't notice Orochimaru approaching her (this has happened before many times and the pink-haired girl made a mental note of not spacing out anymore).

"I found this earlier. It was left under a desk. I suppose this is what you've been looking for?" A grateful grin graced the pinkette's features as she gingerly took the pad into her hands and flipped to the back. On the last page, there was a drawing of a cherry blossom tree. However, it wasn't a normal-coloured tree. No... the bark was a deathly black and the blossoms were a blood stained crimson red the leaked onto the ground, creating a pool of red liquid; This was a drawing that Sakura had been thinking about using for her contrast portfolio.

"Ah! It's mine. Thank you for keeping it safe, Orochimaru-sensei" The pinkette bowed low at the waist, thankful that her notepad was still here for two reasons. 1) She wouldn't have to write all the notes down again and 2) she would be able to copy the picture from the back page.

Orochimaru chuckled at the girls gratitude and ruffled her hair - which Sakura had gotten slightly angry for. "It's fine"

With another last thank you and a wide grin, Sakura left the classroom in a rush so that she could catch up to her friends. She was sure that they would be in her dorm room as they had planned to hang for a bit and get to know each other. The pinkette was the first to bring such a subject up as, since she was going to be living with Temari from now on and she was going to be good friends with Hinata as well, she decided that they should get to know more about each other. Though she was going to tell them things, she wasn't going to get too personal - that's for sure; there were some things that you have to keep to yourself.

Along the way, as Sakura was walking down the almost empty corridors - some students had detention, or stayed behind to ask questions - the pinkette didn't seem like she'd taken any notice of the three girls strutting their way directly in her direction. As said girl's did so, the other surrounding students stopped to see what was going on; they had a feeling that the red-headed girl wasn't just going back towards her dorm house.

Sakura sighed as she continued her way down the corridor, her eyes trailed on the ground that she'd suddenly found oh so interesting. She wasn't thinking about much. No, she'd learnt in a single day (that day) how something could go wrong by spacing out. The pinkette was actually trying to ignore the three girls coming in her direction; more so the all too familiar red-head that was out to get her.

Yeh... she did notice them.

She'd seen them the moment she took her first step out of Orochimaru's Chemistry classroom. The way they turned the corner, flipping their hair over their shoulders like some drama-queens. The only reason she hadn't went in their opposite direction, however, was due to the fact that the dorms weren't that way.

What Sakura couldn't understand was... the school was so rich that they could put kitchens and flat screen t.v's in each of the rooms, but they couldn't even put another route towards the dorms? Just plain... ridiculous. It's like they couldn't be bothered to make a path that went around the school because they didn't want to walk longer. Sakura tutted mentally, not liking what she was thinking.

Suddenly, Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts at the same time as she was forced to stop moving. She didn't have to take the time to wonder why she had stopped as she could see the three pairs of shoes on the ground clearly enough.

_'I was right... they were coming for me'_

The pinkette groaned at the back of her throat, not wanting to have to take any more of Karin's bullshit; it was obvious that she wanted to stay away from the red-head so why was said girl taking so much of her 'precious' time to annoy her anyway? This was something Sakura was planning to find out and she wasn't going to stop until she got Karin to stay away from her, for once and for all.

'_I've only been here for two days and she's already set me as her next target. What'd I do?_' Sakura knew what she did, but she still couldn't believe that the 16/17-year-old before her would hold a grudge that long for something so simple; it was childish. Well, at least now she knew it was possible... however annoyed about it she was.

Finally tilting her head so that she was no longer looking at the ground (the rather nice and clean-looking ground, might I add) Sakura let a 'confused' expression cross her face. At least she was going to be able to have some fun while she was at it; Karin will regret ever holding her grudge on Sakura. (A/N - Cue evil laughter :P)

As Sakura took note of the red-haired girl's expression, which was twisted with rage that she was trying to control, she ignored the other two girl's that were following their 'leader' on either side. They weren't the pinkette's main problem: Karin was.

Deciding to play the 'innocent' act like earlier at lunch, Sakura tilted her head to the right cutely and gave a small, gentle smile. Though, that smile hid her true feelings.

"Urm.. Could you please move? You're blocking my path"

Karin seethed at Sakura's attitude as she pretended she didn't know what the read-head was doing standing before her.

"Cut the innocent act you **b*tch**!" She missed the twitch of the pinkette's eyebrow as she continued, so caught up in trying to tick the pinkette off - her 'friends' snickering from her side.

"You humiliated me not only once, but twice and I'm here to show you who's boss!"

Sakura paused in her act and clenched her fist so hard that her nails were digging into her flesh. _'She didn't call me a __**b*tch**__... she didn't call me a __**b*tch**__'_ The pinkette chanted so that she could calm herself down. It was like the situation with Hidan all over again, but this time Sakura was actually going to do a little more (ok, a lot more) damage than a simple stabbing in the hand with a mechanical pencil. Oh... if only she'd brought scissors with her today... then she would actually have a weapon that you could threaten someone with; it would make them leave with their tail between their legs before they could go any further in annoying our pink-haired friend.

"Hey! are you listening or can't that huge forehead of yours comprehend what I'm saying?" Ok, that hit the nail straight on the head and Sakura couold feel the chains loosen up, slowly yet steadily. Why did everyone that felt like messing with her mention her forehead? Was it really that noticeable, 'cause Sakura was she she'd already grown into it. Hell, some people from her old school even said it made her look 'hot'

Karin felt her contained anger (she was containing her anger?) snap as she noticed the pink-haired girl before her continue ignoring her. Sakura's head hung and the bangs of her silvery cherry blossom pink hair cast an ominous and dark shadow over her eyes; said eyes which were narrowed into slits and were staring up at the red-haired girl through her long lashes.

What occurred next happened in a blur to everyone that was watching, as well as to Sakura.

You could hear it before you could see it; the sound of the slap echoed throughout the corridor and around the corners where it reached the ears of passing by seniors and Juniors who became interested enough to go and see what'd happened - along with other students and a teacher or two.

Sakura's neck snapped to the left as she felt the hot sting of pain from the red-heads strike at her cheek. She had to say, she didn't expect it... she would've thought that Karin would have sworn at her and maybe gave her the middle finger or something, but she didn't expect a slap to the cheek.

'_What a girlish way to teach a lesson...'_

Slowly, Sakura turned her head back so that it was facing Karin, a dark look passing through her eyes which were clouded with unmasked anger and a sneer latched onto her lips. Her usual calm and gentle demeanor becoming fierce and frenzied. Oh how she wished she could knock the girl a new one with her clenched fist that had, by now, produced blood by piercing the skin of her smooth palms.

"Heh" Karin smirked in glee at what she'd caused.

In the broad of daylight, right there on the pinkette's right cheek was a bright red hand print (a hand print that belonged to the red-head - which she was pleased by) You could practically see the steam that the wound had given off.

Fueled by unleashed anger, Sakura shot forward and, before anyone could understand what was happening, jumped the red-haired girl. Straddling the girl, Sakura gave a right hook to her cheek, causing this time Karin's head to snap to the left so hard that you may think the girl had gotten whiplash in the ... Sakura had hit her that hard.

Whispers erupted around the girls as the scene began to play out even further. Karin had just gotten over the fact the she'd been punched and, instead of pushing Sakura off and away from her so that she could leave and never come back, she turned to her two friends and gave them a 'look. Oh, you could just tell what that 'look' meant...

Coming up from behind, the two girls each grabbed one of Sakura's arms and dragged her to her feet, not letting go in the process. Sakura didn't really care, not that they were looking, and her expression turned from an animalistic snarl to an impassive expression. She knew just what was going to happen and she was going to let it happen. No, she wasn't gonna let them hurt her too much 'cause before they can go too far, she'll repay what they have done two times worse; so bad that they would run away, tails between their legs in fear and never want to hurt her again.

* * *

Finally standing up from her position of being sprawled all over the ground, her cheek pulsing in pain and her jaw cracking as though the pinkette had just dislocated it with the force of her punch, Karin gave the pinkette a steeled scowl and stalked up to her - her feet stamping down on the ground so hard that, added a little more pressure, the rock-hard material would cave in.

Breathing in short pants and chest heaving up and down from her rage, Karin inched so close that the two girls faces were only centimeters apart and she spoke in such a tone that would suggest she was trying to scare the pinkette into submission. However, Sakura wasn't scared. Nope... not one bit. If anything, she found it funny that the red-head before her was even trying when her tone of voice was that of a child trying to imitate the person from their favourite horror film, failing utterly in the process.

"I'm going to get back at you for that. How dare you hit me! Do you know what I can do to you for this!?" By the end, Karin's voice became that of her usual screech; her hand touched to the side of face as though she couldn't believe that anyone would dare to even try. Sakura scoffed at the mere thought. She knew that at least half the students (maybe even teachers) in Konoha high would love to sock the red-head in the jaw... or the eye.. probably anything.

Taking a step back, Karin commanded her buddies to keep their grip firm so that Sakura couldn't get loose and prepared for a strike of her own - this time... using her fist instead of a petty slap. However, before the red-head could even move an inch of her arm forward, Sakura had grabbed a hold of the arms that held those of her own and pulled them towards her as she ducked down.

The two, still unnamed girls smacked their heads together creating a loud 'thwack' to resound off the walls, before crumpling to the ground, either unconscious... or simply too dizzy to move any further.

_'Ooh... that's gotta hurt'_

Sakura chuckled inwardly and charged for the red-head who was shocked at what she'd just witnessed, causing the two to, once again, fall to the ground. The amount of students that were in the corridor increased and a small circle surrounded Sakura and Karin as they tossed each other about - rolling around on the floor, throwing punches here and there, a knee to the stomach as well; Sakura's doing... which she was very proud of as Karin had released a loud groan of pain, losing her breath in the process.

Soon enough, the crowd was 'Wooping' for Sakura to win, although most of the female followers of Karin who weren't a part of the fight were on the red-head's side.

* * *

After a few more moments, some shouting could be heard from the back of the crowd of students and a person pushed their way through to the front, only to gape slightly, eye widened considerately.

"What the hell!? un"

His long blond hair whipped around him as he rushed towards the fighting girls and quickly grabbed the girl on top - Sakura Haruno. Even though the pinkette had a strong vice-like grip of Karin's flaming red hair, he had managed to pry her away with the help of another student - one he didn't know. However, this caused some of the red-head's red hair to be pulled out in the process, causing said girl to screech like a banshee.

Cerulean blue eyes narrowed on the struggling girl in his arms, Deidara quickly put a bit more space between the two girls as they were giving each other death glares. At any moment, he was sure that if he were to loosen his clutch on the pinkette, even by just a little bit, they were sure to go ar each other again... perhaps hurting each other even worse in the mean time.

"Oi! What the hell is going on here!?" Twisting his neck around, Deidara stared at Morino Ibiki as he stomped his way across the hall, a raging look plastered all over his face.

Morino Ibiki was one of the strictest men in Konoha High. Hell, even in the whole city. He was a gruff man who was around the same height as Hoshigaki Kisame, but with a larger build. It was said that he used to be an interrogator in the Army and was once kidnapped for information (information that he never gave away), which is how he'd gotten the scars across his face as well the hidden torture evidence underneath the bandana over his head.

Even Deidara, the pyromania who was barely scared of anything was at least slightly intimidated by the man.

As Ibiki reached the scene - where the fight had happened and escalated from a mere slap - he took a hold of Karin's upper arm and pulled her up, rather roughly might I add before turning to the pinkette with a scowl etched onto his face as though he didn't want to be there now. Which was actually pretty much true... he could have been in the teachers lounge having a drink (A/N - On a school night? In school?) But no... he was here 'cause he heard a disturbance and now it's his job to make sure the one's that had caused the disturbance got the the head teacher's office without getting away.

"You"

He shoved his index finger in the pinkette's direction and gave her a pointed look - which wasn't a good sign. "Follow me... Now!" As he walked, he turned back only to see the the girl hadn't yet moved, so he took the liberty of shouting at her. How else would he get his point across?

Deidara rolled his eyes, though he made sure to do it when the intimidating man's back was turned and, placing his hand on the small of the pinkette's back, pushed her along. It was as though Sakura hadn't even noticed the blond-haired boy was there as, as soon as they began walking, she craned her neck in his direction and jumped... literally.

With a smirk, the two continued walking; as the distance from the fight zone and the front office shortened, Deidara decided to give the pinkette right beside him some handy advice. Wouldn't want Tsunade to kill the girl who interested them now, would he?

"When you get inside, don't talk back. Don't start a fight with Karin again and definitely, do not do anything that would insinuate your making fun of Tsunade's looks. This way... you'll survive your first time meeting the one who founded our school" Throughout his advice giving session, there was mischied and amuzent clear in his tone as well as his features.

He sure was having fun right now... it was just his luck that he'd been walking down that corridor; If he'd not had an argument with Sasori and walked his way instead, he never would have come across the pink-haired girl. And what a spectacle she'd given him. There was one thing he wondered, however. This was, why would such a calm looking girl start a fight. Or maybe... she didn't and Karin had done something. Yes... this was something he could believe. Karin was the type that held grudges for long lengths of time and if Sakura had dome anything to offend her, then this was probably her way of trying to get back at her. Though... from the looks of the two, he'd have to agree that Sakura was winning.

* * *

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the small group stopped in front of the head teachers office.

Ibiki, turning around, gave a pointed look to the two girls which said _'Do something stupid, and you're mine'_ Who knows what type of punishment he'd give if they fought any further. They shivered and cringed internally at the mere thought...

Pushing open the door, before it closed on Ibiki and Deidara (the blond waved happily in Sakura's direction, for whatever reason) Sakura and Karin walked up to the desk where a woman that was seemingly in her late 20's sat, her hair tied into two low ponytails that seemed to fall all the way to her waist in length. Her hazelnut eyes were narrowed into a pierced glare as she assessed the two girls before her; she took note that one - Sakura - wasn't wearing her uniform as the school regulations ordered them to be worn as well as the fact that the girl had the most strangest hair colour she'd ever seen - though it didn't look as though it was dyed.

The room itself was huge and the space was mostly taken up by the larger desk placed towards the back, though leaving enough room for the head teacher to sit down and walk freely behind. There were posters on walls as well as a coffee table (with a coffee maker sitting atop) and seats that were placed in front of the large desk so that Tsunade could easily face the one's she'd have to talk to.

"Girls... from what I can see, you got into a fight. But, what I want to know... is who started it"

You could guess straight away who was the first to tell the story, from their point of view as well. Yup... Karin had decided that if she told what had happened first, then Tsunade would believe her and Sakura would be the one to take the blame.

"It was all her fault! I stop to talk to her about what she said to me at lunch and then she goes and punches me in the face! I only hit back in self-defence! I demand her to be punished!" The room was silent as the red-head's breath came out in short pants.

Sakura rolled her eyes and faced Tsunade with a form of pure confidence that she was going to win against Karin. Though she wouldn't tell a lie, like said red-head had just done. Yeh right it was self-defence. Karin had been the first to attack and Sakura, clouded by anger, had hit back... though it was a punch, which wasn't as easygoing as a slap.

"I have to admit, I did punch her. But that was only because she'd slapped me and then, on top of that, out-right insulted me. You can punish me all you want, but I won't take it if you let red-head here off the hook" Ok, she'd ignored everything Deidara had said for advice when standing in front of the large-chested women. However, there was no way she was going to play innocent any longer. Not when Karin acted like that...

"You **b*tch**! How dare you lie-" The red-haired girl was cut off by a slam of someones hand down on a surface.

"Shut it now! Both of you get detention tomorrow after school with Kabuto Yakushi" Sakura shivered at the mere mention of the man's name and just as Karin was about to comment on such a 'horrible' punishment, Tsunade gave a pointed look that said _'Do not interrupt me!'_

"Any questions? No? Good. Now get out!" Without even giving the girl's another look, she turned back to the paperwork on the desk and awaited the moment the door's to her office slammed shut. However, all of a sudden her head shot back up and, staring right in Sakura's direction, she told her to stay.

As soon as Karin was gone, Sakura rose an eyebrow in question and tilted her head slightly to the right cutely, something that she'd been getting used to doing due to her 'confused' innocent act.

"Haruno Sakura, am I right?" receiving a nod, she continued "I was supposed to welcome you when you got here yesterday but was in a meeting. I apologise for that"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders in a casual way, not really caring that the person before her could do harsh things - such as suspension - if she were to be to disrespectful. "I found the dorms, so it was alright"

Finally looking up from her paperwork, Tsunade placed her elbows on the desk and tangled her fingers together as she leaned her chin on them. She eyed Sakura and, though said pinkette was awaiting the moment something bad was to happen, she burst out into a fit of laughter; so hard that her sides were beginning to hurt from an oncoming stitch.

"I didn't expect such a model student to get into a fight... on your first day at that" Stopped laughing, although letting a chuckled loose from the back of her throat here and then, The blond-haired, busty women said in such a serious tone that a shiver crawled up Sakura's spine without permission:

"Next time... don't get caught"


	12. Chapter 11 - Itachi's Problem

Early the next morning, Sakura was getting up from her messy bed and yawned as she was still very tired.

The events from yesterday had made her feel so exhausted that as soon as Hinata had left from their short get-together, she'd walked into her room and fell asleep as soon as her head hit her navy blue fluffy pillow; the pinkette was surprised that she had enough strength to change out of her school uniform and into her cotten pajama shorts and tank top.

As Sakura began to get dressed, her style the same as yesterday (though she swapped her african native wrist bands for a silver chained bracelt with a cherry blossom charm hanging down - more room avaiable for other charms), she began to remember the events that occured after she'd left Tsunade's office. The pinkette was quite surprised that the big-busted women had let her off so easily - even giving off a subtle hint that the pinkette, if she were to get into a fight with Karin again, should at least not get caught. In all of her other schools, Sakura would get in trouble even when they knew she was a modle studen; her punishment would be as harsh as the punishment of the person she fought with.

What happened after leaving the office, however, was what was filling Sakura's mind the most; not in a good way, though. No, she was quite worried about what would happen from now on...

~Flashback - After having left Tsunade's office~

Walking through the deserted hallways, the other students having already left the scene after the fight had dissipated (Ibiki had went back to check and make sure no one stayed behind - if some had, they would have him to deal with), Sakura gulped and a small bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

Even though the lights were on and the sun was still out and high up in the, somewhat, cloudy sky, the pinkette couldn't help the shivers that were crawling up and down her spine in a continuous movement; There weren't many things that Sakura was afraid of, but the thoughts of monsters and evil spirits on school ground at night time chasing after the lone female as she made her way home from detention... well, this freaked her out considerately. It was always in the horror films that she'd watched that this had happened; it was one of the most common fears as well - being scared of ghosts. When you added the dark to this fear, it would intensify.

The pinkette knew what the cause of her fear was and she was definitely not happy about it; she was younger when it'd started - around 12 years old - almost 4 years after defecting from the orphanage.

Her adoptive mother and father had just gone out for their 22nd anniversary at the new restaurant that had just opened up down the street in their town, which was situated to the north of the city, and had decided that since Raijin - Rai for short (Sakura's brother) - had just turned 16 he was more than capable of taking care of his younger sister for a mere few hours; this way they wouldn't have to waste money on a babysitter who wouldn't even do his/her job correctly.

Every other time the family had decided on a babysitter, said man/woman would always lay on the couth, mooch of off their stocked up food and watch the tv without even bothing to watch what Rai and Sakura were doing; the amount of money they would demand was also too high for such an easy job... Besides, Sakura was at a more than able age to know what she could and could not do; she was a smarter than average 12 year old, at that.

While Rai was upstairs with his mate playing on Playstation/X-Box and chatting about the femals with the nicest, assests in their classes, Sakura was downstairs; a small pot of popcorn filling her fragile arms and a can of fanta on the small coffee table in front of her - left untouched so far. She watched with widened eyes as the gory part of the film that she'd chosen had finally sprung to life.

As the most scary part of the film was about to appear on screan, a creak came from the hallway leading up to the kitchen, resulting in the young pinkette to flinch in slight fear. She wanted to turn around and see what had caused the noise, however, she didn't as a part of her brain was telling her not to; perhaps she knew there was something behind her and just didn't want to take the chance of being scared to death...

Never before had she stayed downstairs and watched a movie, a scary one at that, alone; the babysitters were normally there to 'keep an eye on her' as they said.

Suddenly, the lights lights flicked off, leaving the tv the only thing left that gave off any source of lights. The pinkette become even more frightened for what was going on...

Swallowing the lump that had rised from the back of her throat, Sakura slowly yet surely placed the bowl of popcorn down on the sofa right beside her - making sure that as she did so, her eyes were sill focused on the movie in front of her so that if anyone was behind her, they would think she hadn't yet noticed.

As soon as her arms were free, the pinkette twisted around in her seat, only to scream the house down; so loud that the next door neighbours could hear. She leaped backwards and fell from the sofa, landing on the carpeted floor with a loud 'thump' so hard that her backside began to throb in a slight, annoying pain. She was correct in thinking that there was someone behind her... and oh how she wished she didn't turn around.

The face staring down at her was that of a clown. A clown with red hair and the most creepy grin spread across (white and red teeth on view) it's gross-looking face. To top it off... the nose was huge and red - matching the hair well. Of course, Sakura wasn't so stupid as to not notice that the face was in actual, a mask - a mask covering the face of her brother who was currently laughing his ass off, in fact. Rai's friend, the culprit of turning the light off, had also came out from his hiding place (not without first turning the lights back on) and joined with the other in their fits of laughter.

"WHAT THE HELL!" The pinkette screetched, almost as loud as the pitch of her just previous scream. She couldn't even begin to describe how scared she was; tears sprung to her eyes as she thought about what might have happened if it wasn't actually Rai... if there was actually such a person invading her house - the things that could have happened. Sakura's heart thumped at the rate of a rampaging bull as it ran for a piece of red material. She felt as though it was about to explode against her ribcage. Oh how messy things would become. Well, at least Rai would be the one to clean everything up...

Noticing that she had curled up into a ball on the floor and was shaking out of her own skin, Rai quickly stopped and realised that he'd perhaps gone too far. Slowly, yet surely, he apporached his younger sister in care, an apologetic look plastered all over his face. He could tell that he'd taken the joke further than they thought they'd take it and he didn't expect Sakura to respons in such a way. Normally, the pink-haired 12 year old would take any situation with a calm demeaner; with what he'd just done, he had expected her to perhaps tell him off, or point the finger at him with that usual expression of hers.

Never had Rai seen her so scared for the length of the time he'd known her...

Taking the mask off and shaking his head so that his choppy dark brown, almost black hair was back into its correct place, the 16 year olds icy blue eyes fell upon his sisters form once again - guilt clearly passing through them. He crowched down in front of the pinkette and reached out to stroke her silky pink hair; he decided to wait until Sakura had calmed down before speaking. So, craning his neck towards the doorway where his friend stood in an awekward silence - looking like he didn't know what he was supposed to do in such a situation - Rai nodded his head towards the stairs, indicating that he should leave the siblings alone to talk.

When the siblibngs were alone, an uncomfortable silence rung throughout the room - no one spoke, it was silent other than for the almost inaudible sniffing noises coming from Sakura as she stayed curcled up on the floor: knees to her chest, arms around her legs pulling them even closer and her head hung so that her sobbing was muffled.

"Wour howible" Sakura mumbled incoherrently into the fabric of her pajama pants. She didn't want to look up and let her brother see what she looked like; obviously, her eyes were red and puffy, tear stains tracked down her weeks right until her chin where they fell towards the ground and her lip was swollen from biting down so hard until she'd managed to stop herself from making too much noise - she didn't want to sound like a cry-baby, she was 12 years old and had gone through worse things then a simple prank... although it was quite scary for someone who'd never even been alone when a horror movie was on.

Rai stared down at his sister, guilt present in his eyes and a frown gracing his attractive features. Finally, with a deep sigh, he ruffled his hair before leaning down and swooping the upset pinkette into his arms as he stood up. Sakura yelped in the process and clung on as though her life depended on it while her older brother walked back over to the sofa and sat down with her on his lap, her head resting against his well-toned chest.

"I'm sorry Sakura. I didn't think it'd scare you as much as it did" He chuckled at the stubborn look that was plastered over the pink-haired girls face as she turned her neck to the right, crossing her arms angrilly over her chest. Even though he knew Sakura was still angry, Rai continued - grinning widely in amusement, although not forgetting what he was supposed to be doing.

"C'mon Sakura, don't be like that. I'll do anything... forgive me?"

Finally looking back at her brother's face and staring right into his blue eyes which seemed to stare deep into her soul, Sakura suddenly got an idea; the feral grin which seemed to crawl onto her face did not go unnoticed by the older boy of 16 years.

"Anything?"

Rai sweet dropped and felt as though it may have been a bad idea by saying that he'd do anything... he did know what his sister could get up to if she really set her mind to it - the crazy ideas that filled her brain were those of a completely different world. He could still remember the last time he'd done something wrong and Sakura decided to get back at him for it. Rai had agreed to doing anything and it ended up with him babysitting a bunch of the neighbours brats (they were a huge family) for the whole weekend - without pay - when he could have been doing something more eventful - like going to the beach to check out the hot girls in small bikinis.

Normally, it was Sakura's job to do so - she did get paid, of course - but that one weekend her friends had asked her if she would want to go on a two day trip to a consert with, they had adults going with them so Rai's parents had let her go. The only problem was babysitting... Now, that's where Rai came in. He'd previously messed up the pinkette's science project completely making her have no chance at winning the first prize - which she would normally achieve at ease - and so, Sakura decided he could help her out in return.

While his sister was out having the time of her life, Rai was left behind to feel the wrath of children. It wasn't the best of weekends, that was for sure and the dark haired boy had decided to never have kids, ever... A shiver cawled up his spine at the mere thoughts of the snotty, crying babies jumping around his living room, laughing as they threw their toys at him while his back was turned.

Letting the evil look that had previously crossed her young features be replaced by a wide grin, Sakura wrapped her hers arms Rai's neck and hugged him tightly - giggles left her lips here and there as she began to concoct a new plan to ruin her brothers weekend; the pink-haired girl could feel the worry radiating off of the dark-haired boy by the second...

* * *

"-know that the situation you're in isn't something you should be so calm about, Aniki!" A voice called out from around the corner, just at the end of the hallway, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts about the past and causing her to heighten her senses to listen in further. She wasn't an eavesdropper and knew that it wasn't at all polite to listen in on other people's conversation, but the voice from the person that had spoke sounded oddly familiar; very much like Naruto's best friend - Sasuke. The cherry blossom-haired girl hadn't spoken to Sasuke any more than two or three times, but she could still recognise his deep, cold voice anywhere - Compared to Naruto's, who's was always cheerful and had a mischievous tone to it, there was a large difference.

So far, there was nothing that she knew about the raven-haired boys life. So she didn't know that he had a brother or that said brother was going to the same school as them... perhaps she'd unconsciously met him at some point in one of her classes. The only way to find out? Go up to them and be nosy; see what the problem was to cause Sasuke to add such a soft and concerned tone to his normally distant voice, and perhaps... try and figure out a solution for this problem. Or, if they thought it was none of her business, then she would simply leave it alone.

"Why don't you just reject it? I'm sure okaa-san and otou-san won't push this onto you..." Sasuke's voice trailed off and become a simple whisper towards the end, as if he himself didn't believe what he'd just stated. Of course, he actually didn't and just wanted to try and force himself into believing that his parents wouldn't force Itachi to marry anyone. Although, he knew it couldn't be true as the family needed an heir which had a wife to keep them steady and he was still too young and 'irresponsible', as his father would state. The younger ravenette hated the fact that everything was forced onto his older brother, even if it made him jealous at the same time...

"If not... I'll persuade Otou-san to let me get married in your place!"

Itachi's soft sigh was barely audible for Sakura to hear from such a distance, but the stress it held was still easily noticed; was this problem of his really that heavy-a-burden to carry?

"Sasuke" Itachi's soft and controlled voice resounded throughout the corridor so that Sakura had a clear chance to hear every single syllable pronounced. "This is not your burden to carry. You are still young and need to live the rest of your childhood in freedom - while you can - before committing to such a relationship" He held up his hand in silence before the younger of the two could utter another word. "This conversation is over" and there was no room for any further argument. Itachi had made up his mind and Sasuke would have no say in what was about to happen; this - Itachi decided - was his fate.

Sakura watching with a focused gaze as Itachi turned around and walked away, leaving his brother - Sasuke - to wallow in his own self pity of not being able to help. Just seeing the ravenette act any different from his cool-faced, arrogant self made Sakura want to do something to get the boy back on his feet. So, with what little restraint left - that was actually a small voice in the back of her head telling her to butt out and mind her own business (it's Sakura, she doesnt butt out of things that catch her attention so of course she ignored it) - the pinkette marched right out from her corner and stopped a mere foot or two from her new - sort of - friend.

Sasuke didnt seem to notice the girl as he stared with newly found interest at the just polished floor tiles. Sakura waited for well over 5 minutes - she was so bored that she bothered to count - before the ravenette even noticed her presence. The boys neck snapped up in such a fast motion that the pinkette worried it might have snapped right off. Although, she was smart enough to know that such things aren't really possible without someone giving a helping hand.

With an awkward smile and a lazy wave of her hand, Sakura greeted Sasuke casually, as though she hadn't heared a single thing of the two brothers conversation.

"Yo!"

Raising an eyebrow in return, Sasuke nodded and wondered what she was doing standing there before him as though she had something to say but was waiting for him to take the initiative and start up a conversation - something that he really couldn't be bothered to do at that very moment. The talk he'd just had with his brother had placed him in a rather bad mood and the raven-haired boy was sure that about anything could make him snap from that point on.

Heaving a small sigh that was barely audible to the pinkette's ears, Sasuke decided to just get it over with and be on his way. "Is there something I can help you with, Sakura?" There... he could see the satisfaction in the girl's eyes as soon as the first word popped out of his mouth.

"I was wondering, just what you and your brother were talking about that made you lose your cool face..." Making it out to be like she hadn't heard the conversation at all was the best thing to do in Sakura's opinion. That way, he could tell her from the beginning and she could understand the situation better.

Sasuke visibly twitched at the pinkette's words and his usual scowl etched its way onto his face. He should have known that someone was watching, he could feel the presence and could hear the soft footsteps as they approached. The only reason he kept on talking as if he didn't know, however, was because his brother didn't seem to care about it.

"...Curiosity killed that cat, Sakura" Surely this would be enough. Sasuke knew that the pink-haired girl was smart enough to get the hint behind his words; he didn't want anyone invading his and Itachi's privacy. The girl before him was someone he knew for barely a day, so why should he tell her anything anyway?

Smiling a smile that would put even the Cheshire cat to shame, Sakura spoke with confidence consuming her voice while her head was held high. "Yes, but satisfaction brought it back. Well, that and the fact that he has 8 other lives" With a small pause to let it sink into the ravenettes mind, she continued. "Besides, I may just be able to help you" Her tone was suggestive and contained confidence that only he was sure he had.

A few moments passed by which felt like much longer to the pinkette, but soon enough Sasuke let out a breath of air from his nose and pinched the bridge of his nose. He shifted his gaze to and fro from the girl before him and towards the ground in thought. Finally coming to a conclusion, he stopped his continuous movement and gave Sakura a sharp look that told her that if she were to act wrongly on anything that he's say, she'd be dead meat.

Suddely, however, before he could even say what he needed to, a lightbult appeared on top of his head and clicked on. Sasuke had thought of something that just might be able to save his older brother from ruining his life and the pinkette was going to have to play a big part of it. Sasuke wondered if Sakura would be able to handle the role he was going to give her, but didn't ponder on the thought for long as by just looking at his new friend, he could tell the she was one tough cookie.

First of all, though... there were two things he'd have to do. 1) He'd have to explain the situation the girl that was becoming slightly impatient from not being told whether or not if he was going to tell her about his and his older brother's situation. And 2) He'd need Itachi's consent if his plan was going to work out. That was going to be even more difficult as his brother could be the most stubborn person in the world if he wanted something his way and this problem was something that he didn't want Sasuke to be involved in.

'Too bad' The raven-haired boy thought as he smirked his usual cocky smirk. Itachi was one of the most important people to him in the world and he wasn't going to let the older boy live his life in complete sadness, or worse... regret.

"Alright Sakura" Sasuke was sure now. "I'll tell you everything-" The happy look the graced the pinkette's face faltered for a second as she realised there would be a catch.

'Of course there would be a catch, there's always a catch. But... I did say I would help'

"But when I tell you everything, I want you to promise to help me through with my plan" There was no going back now. The only missing piece to the puzzle was Itachi's agreement and a little bit of a makeover. He was sure that if everything went according to plan, then his older brother would be free as a bird (not entirely, but he wouldn't have to get married at least) and Sakura... well, she'd probably be pretty angry; he didn't really care about what she would be like, to be honest. The ravenette's main concern was his brother.

She knew that there'd be something she'd have to do, but Sakura really didn't care. Giving a nod of her head in agreement, the two began a slow walk around the school (or to wherever their legs took them) as the ravenette explained his situation. It was a slow and long process in which Sakura found out that Sasuke and Itachi came from a very (VERY) rich and famous family that were soon planning to pass down their company to their oldest heir when he came of age. That child would be Itachi and to do so, his father had planned an arranged marriage for him due to the fact that "Men cope better with females around" a quote from the boys father himself; Sasuke stated from his very pronounced memory.

At least half an hour had passed by since the start of Sasuke's story and the two had somehow wound up with a can of fanta each, slowly sipping as they sat down in front of one of the luscious trees that surrounded the girls' and boys' dorm houses.

"Well..." Sakura began as to break the uncomfortable silence that had come to life after Sasuke had finished what he wanted to say. The pinkette had listened in silence throughout the whole time (which Sasuke was pretty impressed by as the girl seemed to be the kind to not be that patient) as to consume all of which she had to to understand what the problem was. There wasn't really that much that she could say to be honest so Sakura was at a standpoint herself.

Heaving a sigh and giving a sideways glance to the boy at her right, who was staring at her like his life depended on the first word that would come out of her mouth, Sakura decided to just get it over with and ask what his plan was, because obviously there was something that the ravenette wanted the pink-haired girl to help him with. Otherwise he wouldn't have explained the situation to begin with.

"What do you want me to do?"

In some way, Sasuke's eyes lit up in a way that Sakura hadn't seen before. 'Perhaps' she pondered 'this might be a bad idea after all...' Anyone who would have seen the mischevious glint in the boys eyes would have agreed. But there was no way the pinkette was going to back out now that she had just said she would help, besides... it might actually be a bit fun. Sakura didn't know Itachi as she hadn't talked to him since she had just started school in Konoha, but it was always a good thing to help others when they are in need of it... that was something Naruto had taught to her when they were in the orphanage together. Even though Naruto was bullied because of the scars crossing over his cheeks, he would never just stand back and observe as the others were in a bad situation, when they needed someones, anyones help. The blond boy would always be the first to jump in and fight even if it didn't concern him.

~flashback end~

Sakura tugged at the bottom of her short skirt as she walked through the schools halls towards her first lesson. She felt a bit lonely without Temari or any of the others walking with her, but it couldn't be helped. Her blond roommate had to leave early for some unknown reason that she had yet to tell pink-haired girl and the others girls hadn't been in the dorms (there was no way she could be bothered to look around and search for them) so Sakura had decided just to walk alone to homeroom.

Today was pretty much the same lesson wise, with the exception that: instead of history she had geography and instead of art she had biology; the former with Iruka Umino and the latter with Anko Mitarashi. Sakuar just hoped that this science teacher wouldn't be as bad as that Kabuto Yabushi one was. Although he hadn't done much, the creepy look in his eyes was left imprinted in her mind like a tattoo, never to get rid of without intense laser surgery.

Just thinking about him gave her the shivers.

Stepping into homeroom was the same as yesterday, although without having Kakashi talk to her because she's new. She quickly took notice of Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, the girls and of course, Sasuke - Said boy catching her eye for a short second before turning back to glaring at the clouds as though he could set them on fire with his eyes singlehandedly. 'Well' Sakura though with a half-smile 'at least he's pretty much back into his old mood' it wasn't exactly a good thing, but at the same time wasn't a bad thing.

After a few short greeting to all of her new friends, Sakura sat down at an empty seat near the window, took out some notes that would have to memorise for Sasukes plan and began reading in complete silence. Her friends didn't bother asking what she was doing as they took into consideration the scary aura of concentration that surrounded the girl which would seem to suffocate anyone that got too close.

Sasuke sighed in his seat as he eyed the pinkette to his right 'This is surely gonna be one long week'


End file.
